InfluenceMap, a firm maintaining a global database of corporate and industry association lobbying on climate policy, released its annual report on climate lobbying on Tuesday (May 14). In it, it ranked the Japanese automotive company Toyota as the worst climate lobbying score of any car maker.
Toyota also ranked third-worst among 15 firms in terms of 2030 electric vehicle (EV) production plans, only beating Honda and Suzuki in the forecasts.
Electrek reported that Toyota was constantly at the bottom of InfluenceMap's climate policy engagement rankings. These rankings were based on how much the carmakers lobby to halt climate policy goals, from how slow they are in developing EVs to outrightly pushing back government-initiated climate policies.
InfluenceMap also uses an alphabet-based school grading system to rank the car firms, "A" being the highest and "F" signifying a failing grade.
Tesla Tops the EV Class
On the top of both EV production and climate lobbying lists is Elon Musk's car firm Tesla. Tesla outcompeted other companies because it was fully dedicated to EVs, unlike its legacy competitors, which started out manufacturing fuel-powered cars.
However, InfluenceMap still gave Tesla a score of "B" due to low engagement intensity, with several factors being speculated for the grade. While the company normally supports a positive climate policy, it does not lobby as much as the other manufacturers.
It could also be speculated that the "B" grade was also influenced by the departure of Tesla's policy chief, Rohan Patel, last April, with CNBC reporting at the time that he was joined by senior vice president for powertrain and energy engineering Drew Baglino in quitting Tesla.
Failing Grades from Japanese Carmakers
Of the 15 car makers listed in InfluenceMap's report, at least four were Japanese, with Nissan being the highest-ranking of the four in EV innovation and production.
However, all the Japanese firms were placed at the bottom of the rankings and incurred failing grades due to Japan's slow EV industry in electrifying its vehicles.
Meanwhile, car companies like Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes, and BMW round up some of the top achievers in the report, but still pale in comparison to Tesla's ratings.
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