Auto decarbonization
Mighty Earth challenges General Motors to live up to climate and human rights commitments
Local coalition highlights GM’s environmental impact on both Michigan residents and global communities
06/15 Press release 02/14 Press release 02/24 Press release
(Detroit, MI) – A dozen Michigan-based environmental and social justice organizations have joined Mighty Earth to release a letter calling on General Motors (GM) to decarbonize its material supply and stop polluting local communities. The letter follows a new report released by Mighty Earth, “GM Wants ‘Everybody In’ on Greenwashing,” which reveals how GM is failing to live up to its own stated ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality and ensure that human rights are not violated in its value chain.
The letter welcomes GM’s commitment to ending tail-pipe emissions by 2035 and being carbon neutral by 2040, but highlights GM and the company’s suppliers’ dubious record in the state of Michigan. From the hazardous waste cleanup at the Buick City Facility in Flint to the Tribar hexavalent chromium spill in the Huron River, the letter notes that the people of Michigan experience the daily environmental toll of GM’s presence in the state. The letter also mentions GM awarding the steel company Cleveland Cliffs as “supplier of the year” for a sixth consecutive year, even though Cleveland Cliffs agreed in 2022 to pay $3 million in fines for spilling cyanide and ammonia into Lake Michigan.
Em Perry, Environmental Justice Director at Michigan United said:
“For over one hundred years GM has been a part of Michigan. Unfortunately, this has meant it is the people of Michigan who feel the pain of layoffs and environmental degradation caused by GM. If GM wants ‘everybody in’ on the company’s plan to go carbon neutral, let’s start by protecting Michigan’s environment and not rewarding serial polluters like Cleveland Cliffs.”
The environmental and human costs of GM’s material supply chain can be felt far beyond Michigan’s border. As the letter notes, in 2021, GM delivered 2.9 million vehicles in China, and reports released in 2022 connected GM to aluminum and steel producers in the Xinjiang region of China using forced Uyghur labor. The steel and aluminum sectors are responsible for 8% and 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions annually respectively and the auto sector accounts for 12% of global steel use and 18% of all aluminum consumed worldwide in 2019. As a global leader in the auto industry GM is uniquely positioned to lead the industry transition to clean aluminum and steel for electric vehicles by committing to only source from producers using renewable energy and free of forced labor.
Violation of Indigenous Peoples’ rights
Additionally, the letter highlights GM’s $650 million investments in Lithium Americas Corp to help the company develop its Thacker Pass lithium mine project, which violates Indigenous Peoples' rights and free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) and is widely opposed by the People of Red Mountain. A recent report from Human Rights Watch identified Indigenous communities in Guinea, Ghana, Malaysia, and Australia who experienced the loss of land, polluted waters, and loss of livelihoods from bauxite mining, a critical component of aluminum.
Matthew Groch, Senior Director at Mighty Earth said:
“There is no way that GM can live up to its carbon-neutral commitments without taking meaningful action to decarbonize its material supply chain starting with steel and aluminum. From the local pollution caused by Cleveland Cliffs to the forced Uyghur labor in China to desecrating the ancestral lands of the People of Red Mountain, every place that GM’s material supply chain touches, the people and the planet suffer.”
The ability of GM to meet its climate and human rights commitments and respect the communities of Michigan is deeply intertwined with the decarbonization of its material supply chain. As a global leader in the automotive industry and a major consumer of steel and aluminum, the letter calls on GM to:
- Adopt specific annual targets for purchases of carbon-free aluminum, reaching zero-carbon aluminum emissions by 2027.
- Commit to procure, specify or stock 50% net zero steel by 2030.
- Join global initiatives supporting value chain emission reductions, including ResponsibleSteel and the Aluminum Stewardship Initiative.
- Commit to ending the sourcing from any steel or aluminum supplier connected to human rights violations or the exploitation of Indigenous lands or people.
- Develop a public plan to assess human rights risks regularly, including at the bauxite mining, alumina refining, and smelting level.
- Publicly disclose information regarding its steel and aluminum supply chains, including mines, refineries, and smelters.
- Commit to supporting manufacturers with strong labor standards to help grow domestic manufacturing of clean technology parts and materials.
- Commit to an equitable transition to electric vehicle (EV) production for Michigan workers including the reshoring of EV manufacturing jobs.
Partner Quotes:
Andrew Kaplowitz, Climate and Energy Justice Lead at Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice said:
“GM is polluting our neighborhoods here in Detroit while one in four households don't even own a car. They're taking advantage of workers all over the world and Black and Indigenous communities feel that effect more than anyone else. We don't have to choose between good jobs and healthy communities and it's time that GM puts people before profits."
Rev. Sharon Buttry (MSW) of Detroit Hamtramck Coalition for Advancing Healthy Environments said:
“We expect GM to be a global leader in addressing the climate crisis by examining every aspect of the supply chain for a just and sustainable future.”
Organizational Signers
Detroit Hamtramck Coalition for Advancing Healthy Environments
Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation
Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice
Earth Walk
Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint
Michigan Environmental Council
Michigan League of Conservation Voters
Michigan United
Michigan Alliance for Justice In Climate (MAJIC)
Mighty Earth
Mixto Communications
Sierra Club Michigan Chapter
Vote Solar Michigan
General Motors' Thacker Pass Investment Threatens Indigenous Peoples Rights
New Mighty Earth Report Reveals GM Failing on Protecting People and Climate
(Washington, D.C.)—- Mighty Earth has released a report documenting how General Motors (GM), a global leader in the automobile industry, is facilitating the violation of Indigenous Peoples' right to self-determination with its investment in Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada. The report “GM Wants “Everybody In” on Greenwashing” also shows how the auto manufacturer is, from multiple perspectives, failing on protecting people and climate.
The report sheds light on a litany of examples revealing how GM is failing to live up to its own stated ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality and ensure that human rights are not violated in its value chain. Furthermore, the report finds how GM continues to fall behind competitors like Ford, Stellantis, and Volkswagen on cleaning up its supply chain. The report shows that there is a massive disconnect between the company’s climate and human rights commitments that it communicates to its investors and consumers, and the actual actions that GM is taking to ensure these goals and commitments are fulfilled.
“As the largest carmaker in the U.S., GM has a unique opportunity to be an industry leader in the responsible transition to EVs. However, its failure to take adequate action to decarbonize its supply chain and to respect Indigenous Peoples and their ancestral lands shows GM consistently chooses public relations tactics over meaningful commitments. If GM is serious about commitments it has made,it can start by ensuring Lithium Americas respects the rights of Indigenous Peoples”. said Matthew Groch, Senior Director at Mighty Earth
The report highlights specific cases where GM's actions have clashed with its public commitments:
Thacker Pass lithium mine on Indigenous People’s land
The consultation was never adequate. There are several Tribes with direct ties to Thacker Pass who weren’t included in OR give any Free, Prior and Informed Consent, including the Shoshone Paiutes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. GM should check that. Massacre sites and dirty mining history plague Indian Reservations. Consultations with everyone would have produced substantial evidence to affirm that Thacker Pass wasn’t properly processed. The People of Red Mountain call for accountability.” said Gary Mckinney
GM has invested $650 million in Lithium Americas Corp to help the company develop its Thacker Pass lithium mine project, which violates Indigenous Peoples' rights and free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC). Federal permitting was fast-tracked for the Thacker Pass project and members of the public didn’t have sufficient time to weigh in before the plan to mine this land was approved, this violates the right of the local Indigenous People to self-determination. GM has a policy that claims its committed to ensuring respect of Indigenous Rights and FPIC specifically related to its supply chain, but at this time they have taken no action to ensure that this commitment is fulfilled with regards to this project, despite receiving multiple communications from organizations and the affected Indigenous communities.
Human rights: Forced Uyghur Labor and Child Labor
A series of reports released in 2022 found GM suppliers closely linked to forced Uyhgur labor. Earlier this year, the NYT revealed that undocumented children have been working for GM suppliers in the U.S. These two damning revelations are in stark contrast to an initiative GM announced last year asking global suppliers to join the company in a commitment to carbon neutrality, the development of social responsibility programs and implementation of sustainable procurement practices in their supply chain operations. It’s clear this commitment and the process underpinning it is clearly failing.
Dirty Steel and Aluminium
The steel and aluminum industries produce around 10% of the 2% of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions - more than the whole of the European Union. And despite their significant impact, GM has yet to announce how it intends to decarbonize its North American steel and aluminum supply chains. Moreover, GM’s relationship with Cleveland-Cliffs is antithetical to its decarbonization commitments and continues the assault on communities near its facilities. Just this April, Cleveland-Cliffs announced it plans to reline a blast furnace at its Burns Harbor, Indiana facility in 2025. Blast furnace relining is incompatible with a climate-safe future and represents a major economic and climate decision that will extend the life of a blast furnace-powered plant for an estimated 18 years.
Automotive companies are key demand-drivers for both industries: they are the largest global consumer of aluminum and a top global consumer of steel, with automotive steel being the highest value-added major segment of the global steel market, selling for more than 50% more than conventional steel. “Lead the Charge”, an industry leaderboard published earlier this year, that analyzed publicly available official reporting of 18 of the leading automotive manufacturers in the world, ranking their efforts to eliminate emissions, environmental harms, and human rights violations from their supply chains, published earlier this year found that GM ranked 8 out of 18 automakers.
The report calls on GM to take immediate action to address these shortcomings and align its actions with its stated ambitions. Specific demands include:
- Pause investment in the Thacker Pass Mine to conduct due diligence on their Indigenous Rights risk exposure in the project. Require suppliers and partners to implement FPIC policies in accordance with UNDRIP.
- Commit to ending sourcing from any steel or aluminum supplier connected to human rights violations or the exploitation of Indigenous lands or people.
- Adopt specific annual targets for purchases of carbon-free aluminum, reaching zero-carbon aluminum emissions by 2030.
- Commit to transition to using 50% low-carbon steel by 2030.
- Join global initiatives supporting value chain emission reductions, including ResponsibleSteel, SteelZero, and the Aluminum Stewardship Initiative