Toyota Issues 2011 North American Environmental Report

NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota, the most fuel-efficient full line auto manufacturer in the United States today reaffirmed its commitment to sustainability throughout its operations and beyond as it released its 2011 North America Environmental Report.  The report details the substantial success that Toyota has had in meeting or exceeding the goals of its aggressive, five-year Environmental Action Plan (EAP).  These include groundbreaking enhancements to its industry-leading fleet of sustainable, advanced technology vehicles as well as strengthened environmental practices and partnerships across its manufacturing, sales and service operations.

Among the key achievements outlined in the 2011 report are:

• Major developments in advanced technology vehicles, including the launch of an expanded family of four Prius vehicles, a new partnership with California's Tesla Motors to produce an electric, zero emission version of the RAV4 crossover SUV, and the opening of the first pipeline-fed hydrogen filling station in the U.S.;
• Significant improvements in fuel economy across Toyota's fleet over the past five years, including a 12% improvement in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (or CAFE standards) for U.S. cars and a 10% improvement in U.S. truck CAFE standards;
• Near zero-landfill status at each of Toyota's North American manufacturing plants as well as a 35% decrease in the amount of nonsaleable waste per vehicle produced; and
• Expanded local partnerships to improve the environment, including helping towns and counties reduce energy use, donating used plastics that are recycled to fund a local program for the disabled, and working with dealerships and suppliers to build "greener" facilities.

"Toyota is more committed than ever to being an environmental leader, but we know we must continue to earn it with our actions, our products and our dedication to communities," said Dian Ogilvie, senior vice president & secretary, Toyota Motor North America, Inc.  "We are proud of the success we have had throughout Toyota in improving the fuel economy of our vehicles and minimizing the environmental impact of our operations, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with our dealers, suppliers and partners throughout North America to make even greater strides in the years ahead."

New Environmental Report Shows Substantial Progress on Toyota's Five-Year Environmental Action Plan

In April 2006, Toyota began working to meet the guidelines of its second consolidated Environmental Action Plan, an aggressive five-year roadmap for improving and enhancing sustainability efforts across the company's North America operations.  This EAP covered five fiscal years through March 2011, a period that coincided with a strong economic downturn, product recalls and a major natural disaster in Japan.  The company met or exceeded more than 80 percent of its EAP benchmarks.  

"Despite the challenges, production slow-downs and hard decisions we faced, Toyota found ways to reduce environmental impacts in all areas of our business," Ogilvie noted.  "We used downtime to train employees and challenged them to find opportunities for improving our performance and sharing their knowledge with others.  As a result, we met or exceeded many of the targets in our plan and, where targets were missed, still made progress reducing our impact."

To view the 2011 North American Environmental Report, please visit http://www.toyota.com/about/environmentreport2011

The results of this EAP, as well as environmental activities in Fiscal Year 2011, form the foundation of the new North America Environmental Report.  Other highlights include:

Advanced Vehicle Technology and Fuel-Efficient Vehicles

• Toyota continues to be the most fuel-efficient full line auto manufacturer in the United States and remains committed to bringing a portfolio of advanced technologies to market, including hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.  In addition to exceeding U.S. CAFE standards, the company continues to top Canadian Car Company Average Fuel Consumption (CAFC) targets for cars and light-duty trucks, performing better than the industry average.
• Prius topped both the U.S. EPA's and Natural Resources Canada's lists of the most fuel-efficient vehicles for 2011, and was named the best overall value of the year for the last nine years in a row by IntelliChoice.
• Prius continues to be the world's best selling fuel-efficient vehicle, with more than 3 million vehicles sold worldwide.  Since its introduction in the U.S. in 2000, Prius – when compared to the average car – has saved American consumers more than an estimated $2.19 billion in fuel costs, 881 million gallons of gas and 12.4 million tons of CO2 emissions.
• Prius v, the second of an expanded family of four Prius vehicles, launched in 2011, bringing Toyota to a total of 9 hybrid vehicles.  Next year Toyota will add the Prius C and the Prius Plug-in as well as  its new electric RAV4 crossover SUV  to the company's portfolio of advanced technology vehicles.

Energy Consumption, Recycling and Resource Management

• Over the course of the five-year EAP, Toyota achieved a 6% decrease in CO2 emissions at U.S. Plants per vehicle produced and a 10% decrease in Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions.
• At our manufacturing plants, we've achieved our goal of near-zero waste to landfill for each of the last three years.  Toyota's vehicle distribution division recycled a total of 94 percent of waste generated.
• A photovoltaic system at our southern California sales headquarters has generated over 4.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough energy to power an average size household for approximately 383 years.
• In 2011, Toyota's North American manufacturing affiliate (Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.) received an ENERGY STAR® Sustained Excellence Award for the seventh consecutive year.  An employee competition at our plant in Georgetown, KY has reduced CO2 emissions by more than 11,000 metric tons.  This program has now been rolled out at all of Toyota's plants in North America.

Sustainable Buildings and Dealerships

• Four more Toyota buildings achieved LEED® certification last year, for a total of 10 LEED certified buildings.  
• Toyota has also helped 15 Toyota and Lexus dealerships in the U.S. and Canada in obtaining LEED® certification for their facilities.
• The company introduced a battery recovery program to educate dealers on the proper handling of large format nickel-metal hydride batteries from our hybrid vehicles.  Spent batteries are collected from the dealers and transported by Toyota for proper recycling and disposal.

Environmental Stewardship and Community Engagement

• TogetherGreen™, our signature environmental philanthropic program with the National Audubon Society, continues to support conservation projects across the country.  To date, TogetherGreen volunteers – including more than 700 Toyota employees in New York, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Texas and California – across the country have donated over 700,000 hours of their time.
• For the 12th year, Toyota sponsored National Public Lands Day in partnership with the National Environmental and Education Foundation.  More than 170,000 volunteers maintained existing trails and built new trails and bridges, cleaned stream beds, removed trash and invasive plants, and planted 1.6 million trees.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations in North America in 1957 and currently operates 14 manufacturing plants, including one under construction.  There are more than 1,800 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sold more than 2 million vehicles in 2010. Toyota directly employs more than 35,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $23 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals nearly $25 billion.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com/esq or www.toyotanewsroom.com.

Media Contact:
Cindy Knight, Toyota
202-463-6846 (o)
424-558-0185 (c)
[email protected]

SOURCE Toyota