Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, E&E reported on the Sierra Club’s latest report, which highlights Toyota’s lobbying in the US for weak federal fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards (informally known as “clean car standards”) and a slow global electrification strategy.
The report, titled "Exhausted: Toyota is Losing the Electrification Race as Automakers Charge Ahead," asserts that the automaker, which still doesn’t sell any battery electric cars in the US and is committed to selling hybrids and gas powered vehicles, risks being stranded by the electric vehicle transition.
The New York Times recently reported on Toyota’s global lobbying against stricter emissions standards and EV initiatives.
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change rings the climate crisis alarm once again: The damage done by burning fossil fuels will only worsen unless we rapidly slash climate-disrupting emissions, and transportation is the nation’s largest source of carbon emissions.
As part of the Biden administration’s efforts to address the climate crisis in the US, the EPA just proposed clean car standards that would reverse Donald Trump’s disastrous attacks on the country’s strongest tool for climate action. The Sierra Club, in coalition with environmental, health, environmental justice, consumer, and family groups, are pushing for the strongest final standards possible that go further than any prior administration’s.
READ THE REPORT
Katherine García, Acting Director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, released the following statement:
“Toyota keeps hoping that a shiny new coat of paint will distract everyone from their car wreck of a climate policy. From being among the loudest supporters of Donald Trump’s most significant attack on our clean air to now lobbying President Biden to delay the electric vehicle transition, Toyota is at best the laggard of the auto industry.
This isn’t good business and it certainly isn’t good policy; this is merely a company incapable of thinking about our future or what may become of their own.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.8 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.