AUTONEWS

Brands spend fortunes denying environmental issues

Pressured by lawmakers and public opinion, most manufacturers have invested millions to make their combustion engine vehicles less polluting, using electrification, and simultaneously billions in 100% electric vehicles, as well as in factories to produce them. But some automakers have also been caught “investing” in politicians, lawyers and lobbyists to deny that there are problems with the environment.

According to the World Health Organization, 7 million people die each year from air pollution and many more suffer from respiratory diseases due to excessive exposure to nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and carbon black, among others. others. All of these diseases require expensive and long-term treatments, with the UK's National Health Service (NHS) estimating that NOx-related diseases alone will cost £1.4 billion by 2025 (£1.78 billion). euros), which will rise to £4.5 billion by 2035, more than tripling in just a decade.

Given this scenario, it is surprising that some vehicle manufacturers not only deny the harmful effects of pollution that comes out of the exhaust pipes of vehicles equipped with combustion engines, but also the environmental changes caused by excess CO2 in the atmosphere, contradicting scientists. . The latest example comes from Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that has raised funds for congressmen, senators, lawyers and lobbyists who are all known deniers of climate change and excessive air pollution. Among the most generous donors are Ford, General Motors (GM) and Toyota, which leads in donations. In the US, companies are required to declare payments to lobbyists and politicians, a practice that has not (yet) been adopted in Europe.

According to reports, between 2020 and 2024, Ford transferred $389,000, while GM reached $670,000, amounts that make them the two largest North American manufacturers contributing to the denialist cause. Interestingly, the Japanese company Toyota appears to be the main interested party in continuing to increase the concentration of pollutants in large cities, by donating R$810,000 in the aforementioned period, which is surprising given the fact that this is precisely the automaker that innovated with the introduction of the first hybrid vehicle, which was followed by the first fuel cell-powered electric vehicle manufactured in quantity.

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