Tokyo, 3 December 2021 – In response to Toyota’s announcement*1 that they aim to achieve a 100% reduction in CO2 in all new vehicle sales in Western Europe by 2035, Greenpeace Japan released the following statement.
Daniel Read, Climate & Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Japan, said:
With a long history of refusing to set sales targets and publicly denouncing electric vehicles (EVs), we welcome this step in the right direction by Toyota. Although far from perfect, it is through setting increasingly ambitious goals like these, amongst other measures, that the decarbonization of the transport industry can be achieved.
However concerns do still remain. Whilst this new target does match with recent recommendations*2 by the International Energy Agency (IEA), there is no mention however of targets anywhere else in the world. Similarly, Toyota’s definition of electrification, as applied in other markets, still includes hybrids and plug-in hybrids, vehicles that by their very design are fossil fuel vehicles and will never be zero emission. In 2020 only 0.12% of Toyota’s global sales were BEVs/FCEVs, and the European market made up only approximately 11% of global sales *3, so even with this new target, as a whole Toyota is not on track to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Rather than letting regulations force them into action, Toyota has the opportunity to be an innovative leader once again. Resource recycling, decarbonised manufacturing, and zero emission transportation and complex issues that Toyota has the capacity to work on and develop solutions for. Whether or not they will is up to them.
ENDS
*1: Bloomberg「Toyota Flashes a Green Light for Electric Vehicles in Europe」https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-02/toyota-flashes-a-green-light-for-electric-vehicles-in-europe?cmpid=BBD120221_hyperdrive&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=211202&utm_campaign=hyperdrive
*2: IEA 「Global EV outlook 2021」
*3: Toyota https://global.toyota/jp/company/profile/production-sales-figures/