General Motors announced today that it expects to source 100 percent of energy in the United States from renewable sources as of 2025, five years earlier than it had previously estimated and 25 years ahead of the initial target that it set in 2016.
“We know climate action is a priority and every company must push itself to decarbonize further and faster,” said GM Chief Sustainability Officer Kristen Siemen. “That’s what we are doing by aiming to achieve 100 percent renewable energy five years earlier in the U.S. as we continue to advance on our commitment to lead an all-electric, carbon-neutral future.”
GM says it expects to save one million metric tons of carbon emissions that it would have otherwise produced between 2025 and 2030. The automaker is also collaborating with PJM Interconnection and TimberRock, two organizations it says will help it track real-time carbon emissions associated with electricity use at its facilities.
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Its real-time tracking will also allow it to make decisions about when best to use stored renewable energy to minimize its use of electricity generated with fossil fuels between now and 2025. It will also use that technology to track the emissions associated with the drivers of its electric vehicles, and utilize that information to help it decide where to invest in renewable energy efforts to minimize the impact of its EVs.
All of this is part of GM’s wider climate commitments that include increasing its energy efficiency, sourcing renewable energy, addressing intermittency (the problem of storing renewable energy), and policy advocacy.
“We’re delighted that GM has raised the ambition of their 100 percent renewable electricity journey and brought forward their target to 2025,” said Sam Kimmins, head of RE100 at Climate Group. “This is the sort of urgent action that is needed to halve global carbon emissions by 2030 and tackle the climate crisis. We need all businesses to commit to using 100 percent renewable electricity and drive the renewable power transition at the pace and scale required.”