General Motors has released its 11th annual Sustainability Report, evaluating its operations and setting new goals for the company’s environmental and social impact. They include achieving zero waste in its operations by 2030 and using only renewable energy in its worldwide operations by 2035.
GM is already promising to sell mostly electric cars by 2035 and to make its operations carbon-neutral by 2040. The company currently sells the Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, and will soon release both truck and SUV versions of its GMC Hummer EV, as well as the luxury Cadillac Lyriq EV. It plans at least 30 electric models by the middle of the decade.
With most major automakers pivoting to electric vehicles, attention is turning to the environmental and social impacts. In essence, not just of the cars they build but also how they build them. Automakers have begun setting goals to reach carbon neutrality (GM itself by 2040, Volvo by 2040, and most aggressively, Porsche by 2030 with minimal use of carbon offsets), and examining ways to make their operations more sustainable, such as BMW’s plan to reshape the lithium mining industry crucial to building EV batteries.
Wide-ranging Goals
GM, America’s largest automaker, uses its sustainability report to communicate its environmental, social, and governance goals. The newest version of the report says the company aims to:
- Reduce operational energy intensity by 35% by 2035 against a 2010 baseline
- Make packaging 100% returnable or made from majority sustainable content, and achieve zero waste by 2030
- Achieve greater than 90% waste diversion from landfills and incineration globally by 2025
- Enroll 100% of “targeted Tier 1 suppliers” in GM’s Supplier Sustainability Program so that the company doesn’t escape accountability for its own goals by buying from suppliers that don’t meet them
GM’s climate-related targets are to be “aligned with the Paris Agreement’s most aggressive goal to limit the rise in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” The company bases the goals on work with the outside nonprofit Science Based Targets.
The company says it has an “aspiration to be the most inclusive company in the world,” and later this year will begin publicly releasing the demographic workforce data it already submits to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
