Toyota Sponsors UN World Environment Day

Toyota sponsored the 33rd annual United Nations World Environment Day held in San Francisco, with Prius designated as the event's official car. Leaders of cities, non-governmental organizations and businesses from around the globe gathered for a week-long series of activities focused on the urban environment. The events culminated in the creation of a plan for a sustainable urban future to be called the San Francisco Urban Environmental Accords. Conference themes were energy; transportation; waste and the built environment; food, air and water; and urban biology and green space.

Toyota Receives Environmental Awards

  • Toyota received Portland, Oregon's 2005 BEST Award for BEST Practices for Sustainability. Standing for Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow, the BEST Award honors the extensive sustainable features in Toyota's 98,000-square-foot Port of Portland Vehicle Distribution Center.
  • New United Motor Manufacturing (NUMMI) received the Susanne Wilson Award for Pollution Prevention/Resource Conservation (Large Company). An assembly plant jointly owned by Toyota and General Motors in Fremont, California, NUMMI has significantly reduced the production of solid waste and consumption of energy and water using Toyota's Enhanced Environmental Management System. The award was given at Acterra's 14th Business Environmental Awards reception in Palo Alto. Acterra is an organization whose mission is to protect the area's natural environment through stewardship, education and leadership. The Business Environmental Awards honor innovative programs and achievements that contribute toward a sustainable Bay Area.
  • Toyota earned a 2005 ENERGY STAR designation from the U.S. EPA for Toyota Plaza in Gardena, California. The label distinguishes the building as one of the top 25 percent of similar buildings in energy performance, thermal comfort, indoor air quality and illumination levels.

Toyota Environmental Sponsorships and Support

  • Toyota sponsored the 15th annual Tour de Sol, a sustainable energy transportation festival, road rally and competition held in Saratoga Springs and Albany, New York. Tour de Sol is produced by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, an organization dedicated to promoting the understanding, development and adoption of energy conservation and nonpolluting, renewable energy technologies.
  • Toyota provided a major gift to sponsor a fuel cell exhibit by the University of California, Irvine's National Fuel Cell Research Center in the U.S. Pavilion at the 2005 World's Fair in Japan. The exhibit demonstrates the fuel cell's promise as a dependable, efficient and environmentally friendly power supply. Nearly two million visitors are expected at EXPO 2005, which is themed "Nature's Wisdom."
  • Toyota sponsored "Drive Clean and Green Across Missouri," an event organized by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Energy Center and the St. Louis Regional Clean Cities and Kansas City Clean Cities coalitions. A Prius was among the vehicles in a caravan of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles that made its way through the state of Missouri.
  • In Newport, Kentucky, Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America donated $25,000 to Newport Aquarium's nonprofit arm, the WAVE Foundation. The gift supports the NavOps portion of the National Submarine Science Discovery Center (NSSDC). The funds will be used to subsidize a life science program designed to provide fifth-grade students with an understanding of all living organisms' dependence on water.