Toyota shareholders request it disclose climate lobbying efforts, fear it’s missing out on EV profits
Three EU based asset management companies holding millions in stake in Toyota Motor have submitted a shareholder request that the Japanese automaker provide a comprehensive, annual review of its climate-related lobbying efforts. Never one to miss an opportunity to show cynicism toward a steadfast BEV future, Toyota has urged his other shareholders to vote against the proposal.
Even as Toyota softens at the idea of BEVs as the vehicle of the future new leadership, its sloth-like approach to the transition remains a blemish many have not forgotten, including the automaker’s own shareholders.
There is no shortage of news coverage detailing Toyota’s love affair with hybrid vehicles – the Prius did help propel the automaker to superstardom after all. As nearly all other legacy automakers continue to set timelines and expiries on combustion vehicles, Toyota has had a death grip on its bread and butter for quite sometime, and has lobbied against climate change policy to ensure drivers can continue to huff emissions fumes.
That being said, Toyota has turned a new page in its global market strategy, recently appointing Lexus chief branding officer Koji Sato as Toyota’s new global CEO. Sato brings a refreshing outlook on the future of electrification compared to his predecessor, as the company finally admitted “the timing is right” for EVs.
Sato has his work cut out for him, as he has already outlined a roadmap for 10 new BEVs and a bespoke platform, while simultaneously stumbling right back into the company’s “multi-pathway approach” that still includes fuel cell vehicles and of course, hybrids.
Meanwhile, climate organizations have taken notice of the change at the helm and have seized the opportunity to publicly demand the new Toyota chief phase out fossil fuels more quickly.
Now, Toyota’s own shareholders are concerned about the automaker’s lackluster approach to BEVs as well and have requested to learn the efforts Toyota is taking toward lobbying in favor of the environment.
Toyota urges shareholders to vote against lobbying details
Per Reuters, three European asset managers have submitted a shareholder proposal urging that Toyota Motor Corp disclose lobbying activities regarding climate change. The trio includes Danish pension fund AkademikerPension, Norway’s Storebrand Asset Management, and Dutch pension investment company APG Asset Management.
Combined, the asset companies account for about $400 million in Toyota shares, so they have a pretty loud voice in the room. The popular think tank InfluenceMap, has continually given Toyota low ratings for openly opposing policies that would mandate the phase-out of internal combustion engines.
Many other automakers, in the US and Europe especially, have committed to much more ambitious carbon neutrality timelines compared to Toyota, and green investors are starting to worry that the Japanese automaker may miss the zero-emissions boat that’s outlook looks quite lucrative. AkademikerPension’s chief investment officer Anders Schelde spoke:
We’re concerned that Toyota is missing out on profits from soaring EV sales, jeopardizing its valuable brand and cementing its global laggard status. We need concrete policy changes and a better annual review drawing on independent data to calm international investors.
The shareholder proposal requests Toyota deliver an annual review of its climate-related lobbying to truly substantiate whether such lobbying does in fact reduce risks for the company from climate change and aligns with its publicly announced goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The shareholders also seek assurances that Toyota’s lobbying efforts are in line with the Paris Agreement.
Naturally, Toyota has urged its other shareholders to vote against the proposal, which will now be on the docket during the company’s annual meeting in June. Toyota said it expects a five-fold increase in BEVs sales this business year, but we’d argue that’s not a massive feat when you only sell one model of which only a few hundred were delivered in 2022.
Even without the proposed resolution, Toyota’s board has already shared plans to improve its annual report that detail its public lobbying efforts on climate. This year’s report will include help from an “accredited third party” who will evaluate Toyota’s public work with associations in the climate and automotive industries.
Despite all of this, Toyota is still clinging to the argument that the world is not ready for battery electric vehicles and that hybrids and FCEVs will be crucial in bridging the gap. Is it 2018 again?
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In a joint statement, French and German economists have called on governments to adopt “a common approach” to decarbonize European trucking fleets – and they’re calling for a focus on fully electric trucks, not hydrogen.
France and Germany are the two largest economies in the EU, and they share similar challenges when it comes to freight decarbonization. The two countries also share a border, and the traffic between the two nations generates major cross-border flows that create common externalities between the two countries.
At the same time, the EU’s transport sector has struggled to reduce emissions at the same rate as other industries – and road freight in particular is a major contributor to harmful carbon emissions issue due to that industry’s heavy reliance on diesel-powered trucks.
And for once, it seems like rail isn’t a viable option:
While rail remains competitive mainly for heavy, homogeneous goods over long distances. Most freight in Europe is indeed transported over distances of less than 200 km and involves consignment weights of up to 30 tonnes (GCEE, 2024) In most such cases, transportation by rail instead of truck is not possible or not competitive. Moreover, taking into account the goods currently transported in intermodal transport units over distances of more than 300 km, the modal shift potential from road to rail would be only 6% in Germany and less than 2% in France.
That leaves trucks – and, while numerous government incentives currently exist to promote the parallel development of both hydrogen and battery electric vehicle infrastructures, the study is clear in picking a winner.
“Policies should focus on battery-electric trucks (BET) as these represent the most mature and market-ready technology for road freight transport,” reads the the FGCEE statement. “Hence, to ramp-up usage of BET public funding should be used to accelerate the roll-out of fast-charging networks along major corridors and in private depots.”
The appeal was signed by the co-chair of the advisory body on the German side is the chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer. Camille Landais co-chairs the French side. On the German side, the appeal was signed by four of the five experts; Nuremberg-based energy economist Veronika Grimm (who also sits on the National Hydrogen Council, which is committed to promoting H2 trucks and filling stations) did not sign.
You can read an English version of the CAE FGCEE joint statement here.
Electrek’s Take
MAN Trucks’ CEO famously said that it was “impossible” for hydrogen to compete with BEVs, and even committed to building 200 hydrogen-powered semi truck to prove out that hypothesis.
He’s not alone. MAN’s board member for research and development, Frederik Zohm, said that the company is the one saying hydrogen still has years to go. “(MAN) continues to research fuel cell technology based on battery electrics,” he said, in a statement quoted by Hydrogen Insight, before another board member added that, “we (MAN) expect that, in the future, we will be able to best serve the vast majority of our customers’ transport applications with battery-electric trucks.”
With companies like Volvo and Renault and now Mercedes racking up millions of miles on their respective battery electric semi truck fleets, it’s no longer even close. EV is the way.
SOURCE | IMAGES: CAE FGCEE; via Electrive.
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GE Vernova has produced over half the turbines needed for SunZia Wind, which will be the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere when it comes online in 2026.
GE Vernova has manufactured enough turbines at its Pensacola, Florida, factory to supply over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of the turbines needed for the $5 billion, 2.4 GW SunZia Wind, a project milestone. The wind farm will be sited in Lincoln, Torrance, and San Miguel counties in New Mexico.
At a ribbon-cutting event for Pensacola’s new customer experience center, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik noted that since 2023, the company has invested around $70 million in the Pensacola factory.
The Pensacola investments are part of the announcement GE Vernova made in January that it will invest nearly $600 million in its US factories and facilities over the next two years to help meet the surging electricity demands globally. GE Vernova says it’s expecting its investments to create more than 1,500 new US jobs.
Vic Abate, CEO of GE Vernova Wind, said, “Our dedicated employees in Pensacola are working to address increasing energy demands for the US. The workhorse turbines manufactured at this world-class factory are engineered for reliability and scalability, ensuring our customers can meet growing energy demand.”
SunZia Wind and Transmission will create US history’s largest clean energy infrastructure project.
Read more: The largest clean energy project in US history closes $11B, starts full construction
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