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Toyota among six companies to join UN scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions

Toyota among six companies to join UN scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions

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The European branch of the world’s largest car maker, Toyota, today became one of six companies to join the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net), a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) initiative bringing together organizations which pledge to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The European branch of the world’s largest car maker, Toyota, today became one of six companies to join the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net), a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) initiative bringing together organizations which pledge to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Toyota Motor Europe is the first car manufacturer to join CN Net, a web-based network pooling the resources of governments, local authorities, private companies and individuals to make large cuts to their carbon footprints or even neutralize them.

“The participation of a major company like Toyota is a sign that private companies are increasingly playing their part on the road to a low-carbon society,” said Angela Cropper, the Deputy Executive Director of UNEP. Toyota has sold more than 1.5 million hybrid cars worldwide.

Along with the five other companies which joined the CN Net today – the Carbon Association of Australasia (Australia), CO2focus (Norway), EcoSecurities (UK), Green Cabs (New Zealand), and Wairau River Wines (New Zealand) – Toyota Motor Europe will share ideas and best practice with the rest of the growing CN Net community for lowering their impact on the environment.

In a related development, UNEP today welcomed the launch in the Netherlands of an innovative mobile laboratory to support the international response to environmental disasters.

The Environment Assessment Module (EAM) can be rapidly deployed to disasters that involve hazardous substances, along with two fully-equipped off-road vehicles and the relevant technical expertise.

“This rapidly deployable mobile laboratory will help us to fulfil the urgent need to address environmental emergencies from their onset,” Ms. Cropper said. “This is an excellent example of integrating environmental and humanitarian concerns.”