By 2025, General Motors expects to have secured 100 percent of the electricity required to power all of its US sites from renewable sources. On Wednesday, the manufacturer said that it has just concluded the sourcing agreements required to achieve that goal. The news puts General Motors on pace to fulfill its most current renewable energy goal, which it established late last year. Previously, the corporation aimed to use renewable energy to power all of its US sites by 2030. GM believes that the faster transition would save an estimated 1 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions between 2025 and 2030.
GM’s energy portfolio now comprises sourcing agreements with 16 renewable energy facilities spread across ten states. In addition, the corporation is aiming to improve the efficiency of its factories and offices, as well as expand its on-site power-generating capabilities.
While GM is on pace to achieve a remarkable achievement, it’s worth pausing to consider what today’s news means in the grand scheme of things. For starters, the corporation has headquarters and manufacturing outside of the United States. The announcement made today does not include such facilities. Second, even when all of GM’s facilities are included, they account for just a minor portion of the company’s overall carbon footprint.
Scope 1 and 2 emissions account for just 2% of GM’s overall emissions, according to the company’s most recent sustainability report. For those unfamiliar with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, it is an accounting method that many businesses use to source and monitor their emissions. All pollution created directly by an organization falls under Scope 1. Meanwhile, Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from the power, heating, and cooling it purchases. The vast bulk of GM’s emissions, 98 percent, are not generated by its plants. Instead, they originate from the company’s supply chain and customers who use its vehicles.
To be honest, GM is attempting to reduce those emissions. The business said in the summer of 2021 that it will spend a total of $35 billion on electric and driverless car research until 2025. Having said that, the shift will take time. GM expects EVs to account for 40 to 50 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States by 2030.
