Date: November 16, 2021
To: Mr. Akio Toyoda, Mr. Tetsuo Ogawa, and Members of the Board of Directors of Toyota and Toyota North America
Dear Mr. Akio Toyoda, Mr. Tetsuo Ogawa, and Members of the Board of Directors of Toyota and Toyota North America:
We, the undersigned organizations committed to collective action on climate, urge Toyota to cease its efforts to block the United States from taking action to address climate change, specifically Toyota’s lobbying against plug-in-electric vehicle incentives as part of the Build Back Better Act. Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation are harming the entire world. Toyota’s opposition to battery electric vehicles and lobbying to weaken clean vehicle incentives and vehicle CO2 emission standards in the United States are not only damaging to the climate and to labor, but are also enabling its own short-sighted business decisions.
Toyota has greenwashed its image with the American public by touting its gas-only hybrid vehicles and relying on marketing to hide its true actions, namely: 1) opposing key federal incentives for plug-in electric vehicles in the Build Back Better Act; 2) lobbying against vehicle emission standards; and 3) betting on dirty methane-sourced hydrogen. In fact, a corporate watchdog gave Toyota a “D-” grade on climate-related lobbying, the worst among automakers. Toyota is set to pay the largest civil penalty ever levied in U.S. history for breaching federal emission-reporting requirements.
Further, Toyota’s manipulation of the political system and undermining action on climate is not limited to the United States. As the New York Times recently reported, Toyota is lobbying against stricter emissions standards and plug-in electric vehicle initiatives across the globe.
Toyota’s concerted efforts to attack the current structure of the plug-in vehicle tax credit in the Build Back Better Act have been extensive and unacceptable. Not only has Toyota been lobbying against using the plug-in vehicle tax credit (which would incentivize companies to build more domestic assembly plants and ensure that workers have the right to unionize), they have also been placing ads against the incentive in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and trade press.
Light-duty vehicles are responsible for nearly 60% of transportation emissions in the United States. Transitioning to an all-electric future is essential to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, and the full electric vehicle incentives in the Build Back Better Act, with their strong support for good, family-sustaining jobs and domestic manufacturing, are crucial to that transition. Toyota must step up and produce the plug- in electric vehicles that are needed for a safe future and stop trying to sabotage leaders who are taking action toward a safer climate and sustainable future.
John Podesta
Center for American Progress
Aaditi Lele
Change the Chamber
Leda Huta
Endangered Species Coalition
Jamal Raad
Evergreen Action
Susan Stephenson
Interfaith Power & Light
Gene Karpinski
League of Conservation Voters
Molly Rauch
Moms Clean Air Force
Barbara Gottlieb
Physicians for Social Responsibility
David Arkush
Public Citizen
Ramón Cruz
Sierra Club
Stan Cross
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Johanna Chao Kreilick
Union of Concerned Scientists