Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
DETROIT, MI – Today, speaking at the 2020 Barclays Global Automotive Conference, General Motors (GM) CEO Mary Barra announced that the automaker plans to spend an additional $7 billion on electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles by 2025 -- up from the $20 billion the automaker announced before the COVID-19 pandemic -- and stressed the automaker’s commitment to providing electric vehicles in a variety of styles and at different prices. Barra said the automaker plans to release 30 new models by 2025 globally, two-thirds of which would be available in North America.
In response to the announcement, Katherine Garcia, Deputy Director of National Strategies for Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, released the following statement:
"Today, General Motors made bold promises to an electric future, and we look forward to seeing that manifest into tangible action. We have a critical need and opportunity to decarbonize transportation -- our nation’s most carbon-emitting sector -- as soon as possible, and automakers have a major role to play in driving this transition forward.”
“The Sierra Club expects to see GM, and the auto industry as a whole, invest in a clean transportation future in a holistic way. We need all automakers to invest in domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles for people of all income levels. We need automakers to lobby for strong climate policy. We need automakers to engage in creative marketing campaigns that educate the public about electric vehicles.”
Background on GM’s track record:
Recently, E&E News published the findings of a monthslong investigation that found that major US automakers GM and Ford Motor Company knew emissions from automobiles contributed to climate change as early as the 1960s and in the decades to follow, spread misinformation and lobbied nationally and globally against climate policies.
Over the last several years, GM has lobbied the Trump administration to roll back the Obama-era clean car standards, the nation’s most influential and ambitious regulation to tackle climate change. GM is also one of several automakers that sided in litigation with the Trump administration in October 2019 to attack California’s long-standing authority to set more stringent emission standards for new motor vehicles, a move that attacks state authority, clean air and climate progress.
###
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.