Toyota: Greener Cars -- and Factories

Business Week Online December 12, 2005

Can a car company really be called green? Sure, the notion may seem far-fetched. But if anyone can, it might be Toyota (TM ). The Japanese auto maker has gotten great mileage lately out of its Prius gasoline/electric hybrid. Toyota has sold over 400,000 of these fuel-sippers and is now expanding its hybrid lineup by at least 10 other vehicles.

Less well known are Toyota's efforts to reduce emissions from smokestacks as well as tailpipes. In the past 15 years, Toyota has cut its carbon-dioxide emissions in Japan to 1.78 million tons annually, from 2.12 million tons, while globally, C02 emissions per car produced are down 15% since 2002.

This year, it announced that it plans to cut emissions per unit worldwide by 20% from 2001 levels by 2010. "We're very much focused on energy efficiency and global warming," says Kiyoshi Masuda, senior general manager in Toyota's environmental-affairs division in Tokyo.

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