GM President Mark Reese spoke in January about plans for an all-electric SUV and pickup truck at the Detroit-Hemtramac assembly plant.
AFP by Getty Images
Scientists from the two largest car manufacturers in the United States learned in the early 1960s that emissions from cars and trucks had changed the climate, but continued to undermine funding for environmental reasons. Is.
General Motors Corp. G.M. Environmental information took place within.
And Ford Motor Co. F.
Instead the two car giants took part in decades of political lobbying that undermined global efforts to reduce heat-emitting emissions. While acknowledging the growing consumer demand for electric vehicles, both auto tow manufacturers over the next month raised corporations to set a zero-emission target date in the coming decades.
A GM scientist from the 1960s presented his findings to at least three high-ranking officials, including the company’s former chairman and CEO. It is not clear whether similar warnings have reached Ford’s top brass, the report said.
“We also know that by the 1980s and 1990s, the auto industry was involved in efforts to undermine meteorology and prevent progress in tackling climate change,” said Carol Muffett, president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law. . “But there was another way.”
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We also know that in the 1980s and 1990s, the auto industry was involved in efforts to weaken climate science and stunt progress in tackling climate change. But a different way was available. ‘
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During that time, companies invested heavily in gas-thirsty trucks and SUVs, which remained popular in the new millennium.
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It wasn’t until 1996 that GMA built its first commercial electric vehicle, the EV1. Ford unveiled a compact electric pickup truck in 1998.
E&E News obtained hundreds of pages of documents on GM’s corporate history from Detroit’s General Motors Heritage Center and Wayne State University. Documents about Ford’s weather research were found by the Center for International Environmental Law. Additional material was provided to both producers by the Climate Investigation Center.
The discovery is reminiscent of a report nearly five years ago that covered the extent of knowledge of the effects of global climate change within ExxonMobil XOM.
Spread the campaign #ExxonKnew.
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Earlier this year, GM CEO Mary Barra pledged to use 100% renewable energy in all its US facilities by 2030 and in all its global facilities by 2040.
There is also business motivation to move away from fossil fuels. Earlier this month, GMA said it would redesign the Tennessee plant to build a new electric Cadillac Laric. It will be the company’s third EV production site. GMA has also introduced its all-electric Hummer.
For its part, Ford said in June that it commits to remain carbon neutral by 2050 and that the global facility will reduce carbon dioxide levels by 18% from 2019 to 2023. By 2035 it will have 100% domestic source renewable energy in its manufacturing plants, he says. . Ford has said it will sell its own all-electric F-150 pickup in two years.
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