GM first American automaker to sign ‘Climate Declaration’

May 3, 2013: General Motors is the first automaker among 40 major US companies to sign a ‘Climate Declaration’, collectively asserting that responding to climate change is good business.

The campaign is organised by sustainable business advocacy group Ceres and its Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy, or BICEP, coalition. GM’s participation was announced today at the Ceres Conference in San Francisco. Signers of the declaration are calling for policymakers to address climate change by promoting clean energy, boosting efficiency and limiting carbon emissions – strategies GM employs within its operations as it seeks to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing.

“We want to be a change agent in the auto industry,” said Mike Robinson, GM vice-president of Sustainability and Global Regulatory Affairs. “As our world faces issues like congestion and climate change, we are at the forefront in transforming the way we move, from building more efficient vehicles to partnering with car-sharing startup Relay Rides.”

According to Gallup and Yale University polls, respectively, a majority of Americans believe climate change is happening and that corporations, as well as government officials, should be doing more to address the issue. In March, GM CEO Dan Akerson called on President Obama to appoint a Blue Ribbon Commission to develop a 30-year policy framework for energy security. This action is aligned with GM’s environmental commitment, which has been recognised recently with the American Carbon Registry’s Corporate Excellence Award for demonstrated commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and mitigating climate impact and an EPA ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for Sustained Excellence, the organisation’s highest recognition for corporate energy management. GM has worked with Ceres for more than two decades to refine its sustainability strategies and performance.

Worldwide, GM is dedicated to energy efficiency and is working toward a goal of reducing energy intensity from its facilities 20 percent by 2020. GM has 54 facilities that meet the voluntary ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry, which requires facilities to reduce energy intensity by 10 percent within five years. The GM facilities cut energy intensity by an average of 26 percent within just two to three years, saving the company $90 million in energy costs. It also is the No. 1 automotive user of solar power in the United States and hosts two of the five largest rooftop solar arrays in the world. GM’s goal is to promote the use of 125 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020.

Beyond building fuel-efficient vehicles, GM is investing up to $40 million in the Chevrolet Carbon Reduction Initiative, in which Chevrolet helps financially in community-based carbon-reduction projects throughout the United States with a goal of reducing up to 8 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.