The spokesperson said Toyota has also questioned InfluenceMap about it evaluation methods and the fact that its EV target is not taken into account. The fund said that Toyota's own reports on its climate policy engagement fall "far short of investor expectations" when compared with benchmarks established with InfluenceMap and used by a large number of investors.Ī Toyota spokesperson said no other Japanese company and not many globally have made disclosures on climate policy engagement the way Toyota has, adding it had received some amount of recognition for doing so. It first planned to submit a shareholder proposal in 2021, but withdrew that after it received assurances that Toyota would review its climate lobbying. It will be the first time that Toyota faces such a climate-related resolution at its annual general meeting, the funds said.ĪkademikerPension has been engaging with Toyota for some two years over the issue. This will include the appointment of an "accredited third party" to review the evaluation of its work with industry associations. The board said Toyota planned to this year improve the annual report it has been publishing since 2021 that details its public-relations efforts on climate. "We're concerned that Toyota is missing out on profits from soaring EV sales, jeopardising its valuable brand and cementing its global laggard status," said Anders Schelde, AkademikerPension's chief investment officer. That would include a report detailing whether such lobbying, including through industry associations and public statements, reduces risks for the company from climate change and aligns with the goals of the Paris Agreement as well as Toyota's own goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, they said in a statement. Toyota on Wednesday also said it expects a five-fold jump in pure electric vehicle (EV) sales this business year.ĭanish pension fund AkademikerPension, Norway's Storebrand Asset Management and Dutch pension investment company APG Asset Management want Toyota to commit to a comprehensive, annual review of its climate-related lobbying, they said on Wednesday. Think tank InfluenceMap has given it low ratings for opposing policies that would mandate the long-term phase-out of the internal combustion engine. The Japanese firm was once the undisputed global leader in environmentally friendly cars with the Prius hybrid, but more recently it has been criticised as slow to embrace battery electric vehicles (EVs). Toyota's board on Wednesday recommended that shareholders vote against the resolution, to be put to the company's annual general meeting in June. Toyoda has a personal attachment to Thailand, calling it his "home away from home" at an event to celebrate Toyota's 60th anniversary of operations in the country late last year.The move by the three funds, which collectively hold shares in the world's biggest automaker worth around $400 million, highlights the pressure new chief executive Koji Sato faces from green investors and climate activists over the company's environmental lobbying. Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said he had visited the Gateway plant for the first time in a decade to assure workers, also saying he had come to the Southeast Asian nation because he loved it. The Gulf Cooperation Council comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Toyota and Daihatsu disclosed last month they were investigating how part of the door in side-collision safety tests carried out for some 88,000 small cars had been changed for the purpose of side-on crash safety testing.ĭaihatsu has said that some 76,000 of those vehicles were Yaris Ativs mainly bound for Thailand, Mexico and the Gulf Cooperation Council. "I think the fact that it still happened, means there was some kind of pressure at the development site," he said, adding that the vehicle's relatively large size may have posed a challenge to Daihatsu, which specialises in the production of small cars. "If development had been carried out under appropriate conditions, this kind of problem would of course not have happened," Maeda said. Toyota was working with the Thai government to resume sales of the model, which has been produced in Toyota's Gateway plant in Chachoengsao province, and further investigation was underway. The vehicles customers were currently using were safe, he added. The problem may have occurred due to pressure on Daihatsu to shorten the development time of the Ativ, Masahiko Maeda, Toyota's CEO for the Asia region, said at a press conference in Bangkok.
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