SustainCase: How General Motors is ensuring vehicle efficiency and minimizing CO2 emissions

Case study: How General Motors is ensuring vehicle efficiency and minimizing CO2 emissions


General Motors’ (GM) business strategy focuses on building trust with its customers and stakeholders, as trust is the cornerstone of business success. Ensuring fuel efficiency while minimizing vehicle CO2 emissions is beneficial for both customers and the environment.


Abstract


Maintaining almost 400 facilities, including over 170 manufacturing plants worldwide, GM carries out its business activities based on a set of Environmental Principles that constitutes an adequate basis for environmental stewardship. Ensuring vehicle efficiency creates value for customers, by reducing the total cost of ownership. Minimizing vehicle CO2 emissions has a positive environmental impact. In order to ensure vehicle efficiency and minimize CO2 emissions GM took action to:

• reduce vehicle mass and enhance the internal combustion engine (ICE)

• ensure engine efficiency

• invest in vehicle electrification

• support universal fuel saving regulations


Using the GRI Standards in order to maintain and increase the value of your company


With each publication in this series the FBRH team will highlight one key impact identified by a company reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards and show how it has taken a structured, systematic approach to improving performance. With such positive action companies build trust, by dealing responsibly and conscientiously with their impact on the environment and on their stakeholders (e.g. clients, suppliers, shareholders, local communities, NGOs or local government). Stakeholders that can hold it back or stop it from reaching its objectives


By building trust your company creates loyalty and long-term commitment to its services and brands


New foreword by the Editor:

Why the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are not a box ticking exercise and how 80% of the world's 250 largest companies are using the GRI Standards to gain competitive advantage