General Motors announced its goal to reduce CO
2 emissions from its North American manufacturing facilities by 40 percent by 2010. This fairly ambitious target has been set as part of GM's voluntary partnership in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders program. Such reduction would equal 4.5 million metric tons per year and equate to annual emissions from the power consumed by 432,692 U.S. households.
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| GM assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan. |
GM's numerous efforts to reduce its CO
2 emissions involve a series of measures to increase energy efficiency, reduce waste, increase the use of renewable resources such as landfill gas and solar power, and optimize efficiencies across all aspects of the manufacturing process. It is expected that the automaker's facilities will save on average more than 30 million kwh of electricity over the first ten years of operations. All these actions will lead to a significant reduction of CO
2 emissions in North America.The partnership with the EPA shows the possibility for companies and governments working collectively to encourage others to come up with innovative environmental strategies and to reduce the negative impacts of all aspects of the manufacturing process not only in the auto industry but also in other economic fields.
photo: General Motors