Washington, D.C. — A letter signed by many of the largest environmental, health, and consumer rights organizations urges Toyota to immediately halt actions that block the United States from doing its part to end the climate crisis. Toyota is lobbying lawmakers against including incentives for plug-in electric vehicles in the Build Back Better Act, the reconciliation bill that contains billions of dollars of investments in a clean energy economy.
“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,” the signatories say. Toyota’s actions include 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. As Toyota prepares to pay the largest civil penalty leveled in American history for evading emission-reporting requirements, corporate watchdog InfluenceMap awarded them a D-minus grade on climate lobbying, the worst of all automakers.
The letter has been signed by leaders from the Center for American Progress, Change the Chamber, the Endangered Species Coalition, Evergreen Action, Interfaith Power & Light, the League of Conservation Voters, Moms Clean Air Force, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“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,” the letter reads. “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.”
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