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Toyota is the world’s greenest brand,
according to a new global survey from the international brand
consultancy Interbrand. The first Best Global Green Brands, published
this week, takes into account environmental performance coupled with
public perception of a brand’s environmental sustainability – its “green
profile” – to produce a Green Performance Score.
Based on data collected from the world’s
leading markets, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan,
Brazil and India, the report gives Toyota a top score of 64.19 points,
ahead of 3M in second place.
The Interbrand report says that Toyota
is “a leading example of making the environment a core management
priority, while also engaging in a meaningful way with audiences around
the world”.
Toyota’s market-leading development of
full hybrid technology is a key contributor to Toyota’s strong green
performance, according to the report, notably with Prius – now in its
third generation. Since 1997, Toyota and Lexus have amassed more than
3.2 million hybrid vehicle sales worldwide.
Toyota’s long-term, well-to-wheel
approach towards sustainable operations is reflected in recent
initiatives in the UK. The publishing of the report coincides with the
official switch-on of a large-scale solar power system at the company’s
car plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire, a facility that already enjoys
special status as one of Toyota’s global “eco-plants”, leading the way
in cleaner and more efficient manufacturing and operations.
Burnaston is also a standard-bearer in
Europe for hybrid vehicle production, as the manufacturing centre for
the full hybrid Auris hatchback.
Elsewhere in Europe, Toyota has
recently installed a solar wall at its factory in Valenciennes, France,
and it plans to install wind turbines at its vehicle logistics centre in
Zeebrugge, Belgium. |
