We think it’s great that Earth Day has its own special moment on April 22, but at Toyota we like to celebrate Mother Earth all year long.

When Toyota launched Prius more than 20 years ago, no one even knew what a hybrid was. Today, Toyota and Lexus have nearly twice the number of hybrids currently on the road as all other manufacturers combined.

We continue to be ranked by Newsweek as one of the world’s greenest companies – and No. 1 in the automobile category – for our track record of sustainability achievements and eco-sensitive hybrid and fuel cell vehicles.

The 2017 North American Environmental Report showcases how Toyota’s environmental strategy and performance across four key areas — carbon, water, materials and biodiversity — is engrained in everything we do.

These core focus areas align with Toyota’s Environmental Challenge 2050 goals that seek to go beyond minimizing negative impacts to creating a net positive impact on the environment.
Here are 10 ways Toyota is making a positive impact across North America and around the world.
 

1. Toyota is the largest producer of electrified vehicles worldwide with nearly 11.5 million hybrids sold, including more than 3.2 million in North America. By 2030, Toyota aims to have global sales of more than 5.5 million electrified vehicles, including more than 1 million zero-emission vehicles. By 2025, every model in the Toyota and Lexus lineup around the world will be available either as a dedicated electrified model or have an electrified option.

 

2. Toyota is committing millions of dollars to three hydrogen fuel providers to help fund infrastructure that supports a growing community of fuel cell vehicle drivers.

 

3. Upgrading to LED lighting at eight North American manufacturing plants is expected to save an estimated 20,000 megawatts per year and avoid approximately 17,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year.

 

4. Projects at four of Toyota’s North American manufacturing plants resulted in water savings last fiscal year more than 43.2 million gallons, equivalent to the annual water use of 394 average American families.

 

5. In 2016, only 1 percent of waste from our North American facilities was disposed in landfills. The rest was recycled, reused, composted or sent to a waste-to-energy facility.

 

6. Toyota’s new research and development campus in York, Michigan, recycled 92 percent of the waste generated during construction. That's 461 tons of material put to productive use instead of being disposed in a landfill.

 

7. At 13 Toyota sites across North America, team members have planted pollinator gardens to nurture monarch butterflies as well as other pollinator species. Three of our sites have planted monarch waystations that are certified by Monarch Watch.

 

8. With 58 and counting, Toyota and Lexus continue to lead the industry with more dealership facilities certified to LEED® standards in North America than any other auto manufacturer. And our North American headquarters in Plano, Texas, achieved LEED Platinum last fall from the U.S. Green Building Council.

 

9. We worked with one of our packaging suppliers, PakFab, to find a way to reuse and recycle obsolete packaging from vehicle model changes. With eight plants adopting this solution, we expect to eliminate 13 million pounds of waste annually.

 

10. Plans are under way to build the world’s first megawatt-scale carbonate fuel cell power generation plant with a hydrogen fueling station to support Toyota operations at the Port of Long Beach. The Tri-Gen facility will use bio-waste sourced from California agricultural waste to generate water, electricity and hydrogen. When complete, the station will fuel all Mirai vehicles passing through the port, as well as Toyota’s proof of concept Class 8 HCV Truck.

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