GM has released its first sustainability report. General Motors believes as a company that sustainability goals should be integrated into the business model, and they are now proud to be releasing this sustainability report.
General Motors has just released its first global sustainability report. General Motors believes as a company that sustainability goals should be integrated into the business model, and they are now proud to be releasing this sustainability report.
“Sustainability feeds our bottom line and sustaining a profitable business is our ultimate responsibility,” said GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson. “Profits enable reinvestment – in R&D to reimagine a car’s DNA; in cleaner, more fuel-efficient technologies; in plants that better conserve resources; in improved vehicle safety; in job creation and stability; and in the communities in which we live and work.”
There are four sections to GM’s new report and each one details the way that GM will continue its sustainability model. Through design GM will lead in the creation of new technologies which will help reduce our dependency on petroleum and which will improve the fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness of their vehicles. In building GM vehicles, GM ensures that they will maximize the fuel and cost efficiency of their facilities by making the facilities as environmentally and socially responsible as possible.
The report outlines that in sales GM will continue to offer sustainable vehicle choices for its consumers, here in the U.S. and globally. Gm also outlines plans to ensure the company’s viability by reinvesting in the community and enhancing the quality of life for the communities of its facilities.
GM knows that growing the General Motors business takes more than understanding finance. The needs of General Motors match those of society as a whole. GM knows that it will take energy alternatives and economically and environmentally conscious technologies to advance itself as well as society. Reducing dependency on petroleum, improving fuel economy, improving emissions standards, and thinking boldly about the future and personal transportation are not just benefits for GM; they are benefits for everyone.
“GM’s success depends in part on offering vehicles and services to solve these challenges while meeting customer needs,” said Akerson. “…During a time when we were fighting for our life as a company and managing through a global economic downturn, we still managed to launch one of the most environmentally sound and transformational vehicles in history.”
The report also names nine new environmental goals for General Motors over the coming year and beyond. GM is committed to realizing these goals through the next decade.
They will reduce energy waste by twenty percent from all facilities, promote the use of new energy technologies, reduce carbon waste from facilities by twenty percent, reduce the volatile organic compound emissions from their facilities by ten percent, protect the quality of water near their facilities and reduce water waste by fifteen percent, reduce the total waste of their facilities by ten percent, continue to maintain and promote the usage of their existing landfill free facilities and work to achieve a total of one hundred twenty five total landfill free facilities, extend a hand into the community to promote environment and energy preservation, and gain the Wildlife Habitat Certification or its equivalent for every GM manufacturing site possible by 2020.
“This company has come a long way in a short time, but we know it’s just the beginning,” said Akerson. “We need to, and will, do even better. This is the crux of the new GM: generating profitable growth that will allow us to improve what we make, how we make it and the communities where we make it.”
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