General Motors Aims to Become Carbon Neutral by 2040

US based automaker, General Motors yesterday announced its plans to become carbon neutral in its global operations by 2040. Also, the company has committed to setting science-based targets to achieve carbon neutrality. 

In addition to this, the company has also signed the Business Ambition Pledge for 1.5⁰C, an urgent call to action from a global coalition of UN agencies, business, and industry leaders.

Recounting their goals, the Chairman & CEO of GM, Mary Barra stated, “General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener, and a better world.”

“We encourage others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole,” marry further added. 

General Motors does not have only carbon goals but, the company also has worked with the Environmental Defense Fund to manifest a vision of an all-electric future and a goal to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035. 

Interestingly, GM will be focusing to offer zero-emissions vehicles across a range of price points and working with all stakeholders, including EDF, to build out the necessary charging infrastructure and promote consumer acceptance along with maintaining high-quality jobs.

“With this extraordinary step forward, GM is making it crystal clear that taking action to eliminate pollution from all new light-duty vehicles by 2035 is an essential element of any automaker’s business plan,” said Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund President. 

Fred further added, “EDF and GM have had some important differences in the past, but this is a new day in America — one where serious collaboration to achieve transportation electrification, science-based climate progress, and equitably shared economic opportunity can move our nation forward.”

To become carbon neutral by 2040 GM needed to take some crucial steps, electrification and utilizing Renewable Energy are two of them.  

Electrification: GM will provide 30 all-electric models globally and 40 percent of the company’s U.S. models will be battery electric vehicles (BEV) by the end of 2025. It will be investing USD 27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles in the next five years, up from the USD 20 billion which was planned before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This investment will include the continued development of GM’s Ultium battery technology, updating facilities such as Factory ZERO in Michigan and Spring Hill Manufacturing in Tennessee to build EVs from globally sourced parts, and investing in new sites like Ultium Cells LLC in Ohio as well as manufacturing and STEM jobs.

Renewable Energy: To curb emissions from its own operations, GM will source 100 percent renewable energy to power its U.S. sites by 2030 and global sites by 2035. 

General Motors, its subsidiaries, and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun, and Wuling brands.