Toyota GB first gained the official seal of quality for its work to reduce carbon emissions two years ago. According to the Carbon Trust’s own methodology for assessing performance, it has since achieved a further 10% cut in its carbon footprint.

The Carbon Trust’s quality assessment includes corporate policies, long-term strategies, target setting, and management of carbon issues in business operations, products and communications. The assessment criteria to achieve recertification to the Carbon Trust Standard extends to include additional emission sources including, gas and electricity consumption at all Toyota GB sites (including its head office, training facilities and import centre), the impact of business mileage and travel, and “fugitive emissions,” such as leaks from air conditioning systems.

Thomas Rosselle, Toyota GB’s manager CSR and External Affairs, said: ‘We are proud to have achieved our recertification to the Carbon Trust Standard. Reducing emissions in everything we do – not just in the performance of the vehicles we make – is central to Toyota’s ethos and we are pleased that that measures we are taking across our business here in the UK are achieving such good results.

‘Our efforts do not stop here. We have a strategy in place to make our carbon footprint even smaller through reduced and intelligent use of energy and natural resources, together with the further reduction of waste and increased awareness among all our people about how they can contribute to a cleaner and more environmentally responsible business,’ he added.

Darran Messem, managing director of Certification at the Carbon Trust, commented: ‘Toyota GB has managed to achieve an impressive 10 % reduction in CO2 and equivalent emissions to recertify to the Carbon Trust Standard. Toyota GB has demonstrated that continued focus on initiatives to deliver carbon reductions also delivers significant environmental and business benefits.’

Around 650 UK businesses and public sector bodies have achieved the Carbon Trust Standard to-date, with Toyota one of only seven from the automotive sector.

Demonstrating further commitment to the reduction of carbon emissions in its business activities, Toyota GB has established a programme of monitoring and reduction amongst the Toyota and Lexus dealer networks. During the first six months of the programme, 198 monitored dealers reduced their carbon footprint on average by 13%.