Environmental Defence Report commends BMW Group
Latest Environmental Defence Report commends BMW Group for improving fuel economy and reducing CO2 emissions – More than any other major automaker.
Report Underscores BMW Group’s Commitment to Environment, Sustainability, CleanEnergy and EfficientDynamics
The BMW Group today announced that a compelling new report from US-based environmental group, Environmental Defense shows that BMW’s automobiles have improved average fuel economy by 14% and dramatically reduced CO2 emission rate by 12.3% — more than any other major automaker. The next best reduction of any other automaker was 3%. The report praises the BMW Group’s achievement and notes that BMW did not sacrifice sales growth while improving its fleet’s fuel economy and carbon emission rates. In fact, during the study’s period of analysis (1990 – 2005), the BMW Group enjoyed a more than fourfold increase in U.S. sales.
In its report, “Automakers’ Corporate Carbon Burdens,� Environmental Defense, a leading US nonprofit environmental protection organisation comprised of more than 500,000 members, studied the impact of twelve major automakers’ product strategies on fuel efficiency and the overall level of automotive carbon emissions. The report found that the BMW Group not only lead the automotive industry in both fuel economy of its vehicles and the reduction of carbon emissions, but that the BMW Group was one of only two automakers in the study that reduced its per-vehicle CO2 emission rates.
The report’s findings underscore the BMW Group’s commitment to the environment, sustainability and EfficientDynamics.  With BMW EfficientDynamics, the BMW Group strives to enhance fuel economy with every new product while still offering the customer the best in class performance. To do so, the BMW Group works tirelessly to develop and use innovative technology to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while simultaneously enhancing a vehicle’s dynamic performance.
As indicated in the report, the BMW Group improved fuel economy on a number of its key models, including the 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, Z4 M Coupe, M5 Sedan and X5 SAV. Additionally, the BMW Group’s MINI Cooper accounted for almost half of BMW’s overall fuel economy improvements.
Since the conclusion of the Environmental Defense’s research for this report, the BMW Group has announced a number of additional advancements, initiatives and milestones in its ongoing quest for sustainability, including the introduction of the BMW Hydrogen 7 – the first hydrogen powered-luxury sedan. The BMW Hydrogen 7 is not a concept car. It is a production model vehicle that has successfully completed the entire BMW Product Development Process. Running in hydrogen mode, the BMW Hydrogen 7 has extremely low emissions and emits primarily water vapor, representing another major step in reducing CO2 emissions.Â
The BMW Group has integrated sustainability as part of its corporate strategy for many years and has integrated into its design process the full product life cycle. The BMW Group aims to create a sustainable future for individual mobility independent of fossil fuels.Â
BMW Group topped the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes in both 2005 and 2006 and is the only company in the sector to have been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World and in the European Dow Jones Sustainability STOXX Index without a break since the establishment of the Index in 1999. Each year, 2,500 companies are analysed in terms of their ecological, social and economic performance and the best 10% are selected for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. Industry-specific challenges are also taken into account. In the automobile industry, for example, these are climate change, or ecological and social standards at supplier companies.
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