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Tell GM To Fight Climate Change Through Decarbonization

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Sponsor: The Rainforest Site

Producing the aluminum needed for cars generates about 1.1 billion tons of CO2 emissions annually. Ask GM to commit to decarbonization!

Producing the aluminum needed for cars generates about 1.1 billion tons of CO2 emissions annually. Ask GM to commit to decarbonization!

General Motors unveiled a plan to become carbon neutral by 2040 by transitioning from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles1.

Without confronting the environmental cost of aluminum, these efforts fall far short. Aluminum does offer some environmental benefits but producing it is carbon intensive. The process to make aluminum for cars generates about 1.1 billion tons of CO2 emissions2.

Electric vehicles are taking up more of the automotive market every year, and demand for aluminum is expected to rise exponentially in the coming decades3.

China is the biggest aluminum producer in the world and uses coal-powered electricity to power bauxite mines and refineries, which all drive heavy pollutants into our atmosphere4. An increase in aluminum demand will multiply China's carbon footprint and set dangerous new levels of greenhouse gas emissions5.

There are alternatives.

Suppliers can use renewable energy-powered electricity instead of coal to make aluminum6. They can also use recycled aluminum which reduces carbon emissions of the production process by 95%7.

Aluminum supply chains not only harm the environment, they’re rife with human rights violations8. In April 2022 General Motors was linked to Chinese aluminum suppliers in the Xinjang region, where Uyghur muslims are used for forced labor9.

Moreover, a strip mining industry has emerged from the demand for aluminum, which is refined from bauxite. These mines decimate the health and livelihoods of Indigenous communities across Africa, Asia and Australia10.

General Motors is a world leader in the automotive industry, and others in the industry will follow if GM asks its suppliers to decarbonize.

Help us tell General Motors to make a real commitment to climate change.

Sign the petition and ask General Motors CEO to commit to sourcing carbon-free and ethical aluminum.

More on this issue:

  1. Dustin Jones, NPR (28 January 2021), "General Motors Aims To Be Carbon Neutral By 2040."
  2. William Alan Reinsch, Emily Benson, Center for Strategic and International Studies (25 February 2022), "Decarbonizing Aluminum: Rolling Out a More Sustainable Sector."
  3. Knoema (29 July 2022), "Aluminum Price Forecast: 2021, 2022 and Long Term to 2035."
  4. BBC (7 May 2021), "Report: China emissions exceed all developed nations combined."
  5. BBC (12 November 2014), "US and China leaders in 'historic' greenhouse gas emissions pledge."
  6. Norsk Hydro ASA (2022), "Renewable power and aluminum."
  7. Julia Attwood, BloombergNEF (16 June 2021), "Green Aluminum is Competitive Today. It’s Time to Start Transforming."
  8. Andy Home, Reuters (10 May 2017), "How would you like your aluminum? Green or black? Andy Home."
  9. Washington Post (8 April 2022), "Automaker suppliers linked to controversial labor programs in Chinese aluminum industry, report says."
  10. Human Rights Watch (22 July 2021), "Aluminum: The Car Industry’s Blind Spot."
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The Petition:

To the CEO of General Motors,

While it is commendable that General Motors plans to become carbon neutral by 2040 by transitioning from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, without confronting the environmental cost of aluminum, these efforts fall far short.

The fact is, aluminum does offer some environmental benefits but producing it is carbon intensive. The process to make aluminum for cars generates about 1.1 billion tons of CO2 emissions.

China is the biggest aluminum producer in the world and uses coal-powered electricity to power bauxite mines and refineries, which all drive heavy pollutants into our atmosphere. As demand for aluminum is expected to rise exponentially in the coming decades, this high carbon footprint will be pushed even higher, setting dangerous new levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

Moreover, Chinese aluminum suppliers in the Xinjang region — suppliers that GM has had ties to — have been found to use Uyghur muslims for forced labor.

Strip mining for aluminum decimate the health and livelihoods of Indigenous communities across Africa, Asia and Australia, and harms the environment for us all.

As a world leader in the automotive industry, others in the industry will follow if General Motors puts pressure on suppliers to decarbonize.

I ask you to make a real commitment to confronting climate change by committing to sourcing carbon-free and ethical aluminum.

Sincerely,

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Signatures: