Scored evidence collected on an entity's engagement with land-use and circular economy policy will now be fully weighted into the final calculations for each entity's metrics. This follows a two year process where InfluenceMap has evolved its methodology to collect evidence on corporate and industry engagement with these key areas of climate-related policy.
We have strengthened the algorithm for discounting the impact older evidence on an organization's top-line metrics. Evidence from within the last two years is weighted the strongest and then gradually weighted out of the scoring calculations as it gets older. All evidence that is 5 years or older is completely removed from the scoring calculations. Users will still be able to view older evidence items that are archived the scoring matrix below, but these will not be impacting the organization's current scores.
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Toyota has strategic, mostly negative engagement with climate policy globally in 2022-24. While supporting the Paris Agreement, Toyota has opposed policies including stringent GHG emissions standards for vehicles, internal combustion engine (ICE) phase-out rules, and zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) targets in multiple regions.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Toyota’s top-line messaging on climate change is mostly positive. Toyota supported the Paris Agreement in its 2023 Climate Public Policies Report, published in January 2024 and to limit global warming to 1.5°C in a January 2023 US blog post.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Toyota has negative, strategic engagement on GHG emissions and fuel economy standards for vehicles globally. In the US, in July 2023 regulatory comments, Toyota opposed the EPA’s proposed higher GHG emissions standards for light-duty vehicles, advocating to reduce proposed zero-emission 2030 and 2032 vehicle penetration rates. A March 2024 New York Times article also reported that Toyota had “lobbied hard” against US light-duty GHG standards. In October 2023 US regulatory comments, the company opposed higher proposed US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and light trucks, questioning their legality.
In Australia, Toyota consultation responses in October 2022 and May 2023 on a proposed fuel efficiency (CO2) standard appeared to promote low-stringency CO2 standards aligned with the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ (FCAI) voluntary rules. A February 2024 Australian Financial Review article later reported that Toyota criticized Australia’s proposed CO2 standards as "too ambitious". Following this, in a March 2024 consultation response, Toyota urged the government to “revisit” headline CO2 targets, delay full penalties until 2029 and pushed for numerous flexibilities such as super and off-cycle credits that would weaken the rule. However, in March 2024, the Guardian reported that a Toyota executive joined a government press conference announcing a final, weakened legislated CO2 standard, with the executive stressing that affordability “remains a significant challenge”.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Toyota in 2022-24 has consistently advocated for a longer-term role for ICE-powered hybrids over battery electric vehicles (BEVs) globally in 2022-24. In Japan, a November 2022 JAMA blog reported that former Toyota President, Akio Toyoda, met Japan's Prime Minister Kishida in June 2022 to advocate against introducing climate regulations, and persuaded Kishida to withhold support for ZEV targets at the subsequent G7 summit.
Toyota has consistently opposed ICE phase-out and zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandates globally in 2022-24. In a March 2023 consultation response, the company opposed a Canadian ZEV mandate, noting that generally "Toyota does not support the notion of ZEV mandates." In a May 2023 UK consultation response found via FOI request, Toyota advocated to effectively delay the UK’s ZEV mandate by pushing for 2024 to be a monitoring year only, and for a weaker mandate trajectory for cars. Following the UK government delaying its initial ICE phase-out from 2030 to 2035, a Toyota statement reported by Autocar welcomed weakening the policy in September 2023. In a June 2023 consultation response Toyota appeared to push to weaken Mexico’s 50% ZEV 2030 sales target by including ICE-powered hybrid vehicle sales. California regulatory comments by Toyota in October 2022 also appeared unsupportive of the Advanced Clean Fleets rule that included a 100% 2040 medium and heavy-duty ZEV mandate. More positively, In June 2022, a joint letter signed by Toyota supported a US electric vehicle tax credit in a June 2022 joint letter.
Regarding electrification, in a January 2024 speech, chairman Akio Toyoda said that he believed battery electric vehicles would only reach at most a 30% market share globallysaid that he believed battery electric vehicles would only reach at most a 30% market share. In a separate January 2024 speech reported by, Nikkei, reported another Toyoda speech arguingToyoda argued that ICE-powered engines remain a “practical means of achieving carbon neutrality.” AA similar speech from Toyota's chief scientist reported by Bloomberg in May 2023, and a Toyota July 2023 US regulatory comment, advocated for a longer-term role for ICE-powered hybrids over BEVs. A March 2024 New York Times article reported that “Toyota’s top lobbyist” in the US delivered a speech stating that “Toyota and our dealer partners have stood alone in the fight against unrealistic BEV mandates”, and that US Toyota dealerships supported a January 2024 letter that urged US President Biden to “tap the brakes” on its electric vehicle push. In India, a Reuters report in July 2024 suggested that Toyota had successfully influenced the Uttar Pradesh government to waive registration taxes on ICE-powered hybrid vehicle purchases.
Industry Association Governance: Toyota has mixed transparency over its indirect influence through industry associations. In January 2024, Toyota published its third industry association review and did not identify any cases of material misalignment with industry associations. Toyota retains high-level positions in several regressive groups. These include Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), where Toyota's President is Vice Chair, Keidanren, where a Toyota executive is a Board Vice Chair, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), where a Toyota executive is a board member, and the Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) where a Toyota executive is Deputy Chair. Toyota is also a member of the US-based Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement every week, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2024.