Honda Reports on its Environmental Performance and Progress in 2016 North American Report

MARYSVILLE, Ohio, November 7, 2016 /3BL Media/ – Honda has released its 2016 North American Environmental Report (NAER) detailing the company’s environmental activities in North America, and disclosing the results of its efforts over the last fiscal year.

Honda expanded its global environmental strategy in 2016 in its continuing support of the company’s environmental vision and its challenging goal to halve total CO₂ emissions from its products and operations globally by 2050, as compared to 2000 levels.

“From an environmental perspective, we are aggressively pursuing innovations that will help reduce CO₂ emissions, which is society’s most pressing environmental challenge,” said Toshiaki Mikoshiba, president & CEO of Honda North America, Inc. “We are pursuing environmental innovation across all aspects of our business with a strong focus on improving efficiency at every stage of the product life cycle.”

The NAER illustrates Honda’s Environmental Vision as well as its approach to managing environmental efforts throughout the company. The 51-page report also features Honda’s stance on public policies as they pertain to energy usage and development of alternate-fuel vehicles and technologies.

The report is Honda’s twelfth annual report on the environmental impact of its operations in North America, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, and covers the period from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 (fiscal year 2016). 

2016 North American Environmental Report Highlights:

Product Development

• Honda and Acura have continued to expand their program of receiving material data from suppliers, allowing the company to better address the complexity of the evolving hazardous material regulation requirements.  As part of the ongoing effort to reduce or eliminate the use of potentially hazardous substance, 11 of the 15 Honda and Acura models sold in the U.S. or Canada in fiscal 2016 had PVC-free interiors.

Purchasing

• Honda is also accounting for and reducing CO2 emissions within its North American supply chain, where the company works with more than 600 OEM parts suppliers. In FY16, suppliers representing nearly 95 percent of the company’s total North American new-vehicle parts purchases reported CO₂ emissions data to Honda.
• Honda increased its support of CNG-fueled trucks used on local transportation routes. The incorporation of CNG-powered trucks in FY16 resulted in the replacement of more than 930,000 gallons of diesel fuel and reduced CO₂ emissions by 1,447 metric tons

​Manufacturing  

• The CO₂e emissions intensity of automobile production in North America[i] in FY16 decreased 10 percent from a year ago despite all-time record levels of auto production, while total CO₂e emissions from all North American manufacturing activitiesi decreased 4.1 percent to 1.07 million metric tons in the same period.
• Honda reduced waste sent to landfill from manufacturing facilities by 83 percent from year-ago levels based on the resolution of start-up issues at the Celaya, Mexico auto plant and has reduced waste-to-landfill from manufacturing by 92 percent since FY01[ii].
• Honda decreased its energy used per auto by 6.7 percent last year[iii], reaching its most energy efficient level in eight years.

Sales and Service

• Honda decreased is waste sent to landfills from its 12 U.S. parts warehousing and distribution centers in the United States by 20 percent last year, and has reached its lowest level of waste-to-landfill from these facilities in eight years.
• The CO₂ emissions intensity of U.S. service parts shipments fell 10% from a year ago, and has been reduced 43.3% over the past six years.
• American Honda saw increased commitment to its ‘Green Dealer’ program, which helps U.S. Honda and Acura dealers reduce their environmental impact. In FY16 more than 100 dealers received a Honda Environmental Award and combined for an annual reduction of 12,500 tons of CO₂

Product In Use

• The unadjusted fleet-average fuel economy of Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S.[iv] increased for the fourth consecutive year and was up 6.9% to 37.1 mpg in model year 2015 (MY15), compared to MY14 levels, also outpacing the automobile industry average of 31.2 mpg by 5.9 mpg, or 18.9 percent..
• The unadjusted fleet average CO₂ emissions of the company’s U.S. automobile fleet [v] declined 6.6% in the same period (MY15 vs. MY14) and was 15.8% below (better than) the industry average.
• The fleet-average fuel economy of Honda motorcycles[vi] improved 11.5% in MY15 as compared to MY14 and is up 66.4% from the MY00 baseline.

End-of-Life

• Honda recycled nearly 631,000 parts in FY16, including wheels, engine components, catalytic converters and rare-earth metals.

Additional information on Honda’s environmental performance outside of North America can be found in Honda Motor Company’s Sustainability Report, with a focus on the company’s activities in Japan.

Honda's Environmental Commitment

Based on its vision of "Blue Skies for our Children," Honda is working to advance technologies that address society's environmental and energy concerns.  The company's "Green Path" approach seeks to reduce or eliminate the use of substances of concern (SOCs) and scarce natural resources in the design of its vehicles, significantly reduce the CO₂ intensity and water use of its manufacturing operations, continue to decrease CO₂ emissions from the transportation of vehicles from its plants to dealers, and expand the involvement of U.S. Honda and Acura dealers as well as powersports, power equipment and marine dealers in its "Green Dealer" program.
These activities reinforce Honda's goal to voluntarily reduce its total corporate CO₂ emissions by 50 percent by the year 2050, compared to 2000 levels. In 2006, Honda was the first auto company to voluntarily and publicly commit to global reductions in its CO2 emissions.

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[i] Total CO2e emissions (from consumption of electricity and natural gas) includes all automobile, powersports, power equipment and aviation manufacturing operations in North America. CO2e emissions at the Guadalajara, Mexico plant are allocated between automobile and motorcycle production based on sales value.

[ii] Total landfill waste includes all automobile, powersports, power equipment and aviation manufacturing operations in North America. Landfill waste at the Guadalajara, Mexico plant is allocated between automobile and motorcycle production based on sales value.

iii Energy used per auto encompasses all auto-related manufacturing activity, including automobile engines and transmissions produced in North America; it does not include power equipment, powersports and aviation manufacturing operations. Energy use at the Guadalajara, Mexico plant is allocated between automobile and motorcycle production based on sales value.

[iv] Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 through 2015, published December 2015 (Table 4.5)

[v] Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 through 2015, published December 2015 (Table 4.3)

[vi] Honda calculation using U.S. EPA exhaust emissions data. FY00-09 data are based on actual sales, while 2010 and later are based on production volumes. Some MY production is sold in later years (ex: a 2009 MY motorcycle that is sold new in 2011) and was omitted by the earlier method.