Lauren Lantry, llantry@partnershipproject.org
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Public Citizen, Moms Clean Air Force, and League of Conservation Voters launched Pollutamotor.com, a website and accompanying digital ads asserting that Toyota, which still doesn’t sell any battery-electric cars in the U.S. and is committed to manufacturing outdated hybrids and gas-powered vehicles, risks being stranded by the electric vehicle transition.
In the US right now, Toyota is one of the lead automakers lobbying against a popular provision in the Build Back Better Act, supported by President Biden, over 100 House Democrats, environmental groups, labor unions, and major automakers, to expand the federal electric vehicle tax credit and support workers and the environment.
“Toyota has downshifted from leader to laggard, selling mostly gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups instead of cleaner cars and lobbying against policies encouraging tailpipe-free electric vehicles,” said Dan Becker, Director, Safe Climate Transport Campaign, Center for Biological Diversity.
The website and accompanying digital ads launch days ahead of transportation day at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26). The digital ads will target Toyota executives and staff as well as COP 26 attendees.
“Toyota has a long track record of putting profits before people, from being among the loudest supporters of Donald Trump’s most significant attack on our clean air to lobbying President Biden to delay the electric vehicle transition and fighting against legislation that would support climate action and workers’ rights in Congress. This decade will be recognized for advancing family-sustaining jobs in clean transportation and clean energy - Toyota has a choice right now to lead in this crucial transition, or to continue fueling the climate crisis,” said Katherine Garcia, Acting Director of Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign.
Following Toyota President Akio Toyoda calling electric vehicles “overhyped,” and falsely stating they would increase carbon dioxide emissions, Toyota Motor Corp Chief Scientist Gill Pratt recently said, “not everybody should drive a battery electric vehicle”.
“Toyota is actively undermining climate progress, at a time when the need for urgent action could not be clearer. Electrifying the transportation sector is essential to protecting our children from the climate crisis. As parents, we call on Toyota to make a U-turn, and fast,” said Molly Rauch, Public Health Policy Director, Moms Clean Air Force.
“Toyota once led the way on cars that pollute less and are cheaper to operate. But its current strategy is a dead end -- torching its goodwill, its customers' pocketbooks, and our livable habitat because it made bad bets on technologies other than EVs. Toyota should invest in winning the EV race, not destroying the climate and offering bad cars. If Toyota doesn't change course soon, it will only face consumer scorn and, ultimately, irrelevance,” said David Arkush, Director, Public Citizen’s Climate Program.
“From lavishing money on January 6th insurrectionists, to fighting tooth and nail against regulations to clean up our air quality, to lobbying to obstruct historic investments in zero emissions vehicles in the Build Back Better Act, Toyota is stuck in reverse. We need to advance the clean transportation system of the future - electric vehicles will help tackle climate change and toxic air pollution - and Congress should swiftly pass the Build Back Better Act to fulfill that equitable and safe future,” said Matthew Davis, Senior Director, Government Affairs, League of Conservation Voters.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of 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.