BMW current 3 series, their 5 seat family model has energy usage figures of 47.9 mpg and emits 142 g/km of CO2 for the 1.8 litre petrol engine and 46.3 mpg and CO2 emissions of 146 g/km for the 2 litre petrol engine.
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BMW are currently developing alternate fuel cars that, the company claims, release zero emissions. This sounds like a fantastic breakthrough however, what BMW is not telling the public is that the emission this car was tested for was Carbon Monoxide not CO2. This could lead to uninformed consumers purchasing a car that they believe is not harmful to the environment on the basis of false claims. This is an example of an organisation operating on an economical approach towards business. Environmental factors appear to have been considered only as a marketing tool to aid in the sale of these products, and since the truth is being sugar coated it appears that the company is operating very unethically. (source: )
Ford are planning on introducing a range of fully electric vehicles into its range over the next couple of years. Estimates from the company predict that the economy of their fleet will “improve an average of 14 percent for 2009 models, 26 percent for 2012 models and 36 percent for 2015 models – compared with the fuel economy of its 2005 fleet.”
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However, The current figures for the Mondeo model, Ford’s closest competitor to the Prius, averages 38.2 mpg and emits 170g/km of CO2.
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These performance figures are nowhere near those of the Prius, so even though Ford are aiming to bring down the emissions and improve the economy of their entire fleet, at this present time they are not doing enough towards solving the problem. The financial investment that is needed to develop greener motoring solutions was not done by Ford until very recently when it became publicly popular to care for the environment. Even though Ford implemented green strategies later than other car manufacturers, the Kyoto Protocol only wanted a drop in emissions of 5% by 2012, and Ford’s targets are much greater than this. This places them into the category of ethically motivated in the social responsibility pyramid, since they are aiming to go further than what is required of them by law.
Stake Holder Theory
Stake holder theory, in brief is the idea that every single person that a business is involved with has a stake in the business, in that the decisions made by the business will affect everyone who is involved with the business no matter how removed. It can be argued that an organisations biggest stakeholder is the owner or shareholders, and that the most ethical approach towards business is to satisfy the responsibility to the shareholders by maximising profit at any cost.
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There are many stakeholders in the car industry. These range from the individual manufacturers, to their employees, green pressure groups, customers, suppliers and every other person on the planet. It is widely recognised that the automotive industry is a huge contributor to global emissions and pollution and damage to the environment has consequences for not only every human on the planet, but also every living animal. It is wrong to assume that all stakeholders in a business are assumed as equal, some will be affected more than others by organisations decisions.
Toyota is aiming to satisfy as many stakeholders as possible. Customers are kept satisfied as the demand for the products they want is filled, shareholders are happy as huge profits are being made, predicted to be £3.8billion in the financial year 2008 – 2009, (source: ) and the environmentalists are happy since Toyota are leading the pack in development of environmentally friendly motoring solutions. However, Toyota, as well as all the manufacturers covered in this report, are still developing and selling big trucks and 4x4 vehicles that are highly inefficient, Toyota’s insistence on selling big, inefficient trucks is a big departure away from their claims of eco-friendliness.
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This leads to environmental pressure groups being unhappy, since they feel that Toyota are being hypocritical and using their Prius model as a smokescreen to shield the more polluting vehicles in their range from criticism.(see appendix 3) To satisfy the wants of these stakeholders, Toyota claims to be aiming to produce a “next generation electric vehicle as early as 2010” while “accelerating the development of hybrid, plug in hybrid and all electric vehicles.”
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BMW serve the same stakeholders as Toyota, yet do it in different ways. In their sixth published sustainable value report BMW outlines a commitment on protecting the environment and reducing their CO2 emissions.
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BMW are claiming that they intended to reduce their CO2 emissions for the benefit of the environment, and in turn for the stake holders whose interest lie in environmental protection. However, this report was published in 2007 and in the year since it was published BMW have released faster and more powerful models of their existing cars which do less mpg and emit more CO2. The organisation is claiming to be caring for the environment and may have reduced the CO2 emissions coming from its factories, but when it is producing products that have higher emissions than in previous years, the whole point of minimising the carbon footprint in the production process becomes an invalid point.
Ford have consulted with various stakeholders to resolve issues amongst its plants, including emissions levels. This is a particularly clever, as the voices of the stakeholders in the organisation are heard and are able to talk out solutions to problems such as emissions levels. This is a good idea for setting targets to reduce emissions in the production facilities, but it will not be setting targets for emissions from the vehicles
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Ford have also decided that its commitment to its environmental stakeholders is more important than its commitment to its shareholders, having secured a $9billion loan from the US Government to act as a safety net whilst developing electric and hybrid motor vehicles. This will impact the profits that Ford are making and these decreased profits will be passed onto the shareholders.
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Mercedes Benz primary responsibility is to its sole shareholder DaimlerChrysler and it is to make a profit for a company with a bleak future. Mercedes Benz biggest non financial responsibility is to the urban population in towns and cities. It has bought this responsibility on itself by designing hybrid buses with minimal emissions for use in urban environments. The responsibilities that Mercedes Benz shouldered has been rewarded since they won the DEKRA environmental prize which celebrates innovate solutions to environmental protection.
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Conclusion
The major players in the automotive industry have recognised that they are part of the problem. Some manufacturers have responded better than others to combating the damage that is being caused to the environment and in creating a solution. Even though a lot of the companies covered in this report are looking at reducing the emissions of their vehicles and making them friendlier to the environment, none of these companies are doing as much as they can. Toyota are the most forward thinking company when it comes to reducing the emissions of their vehicles, but even they are not doing enough to combat the problem. Even though Toyota has hybrid technology, it is still producing huge, petrol trucks that are highly polluting. The hybrid technology that has been developed is suitable for use in these trucks but so far it has not been implemented. BMW and Ford are attempting to solve the problem, but they are not doing enough. Figures that have been published make them sounds like they are doing a lot towards solving the problem, but in reality what they are saying is in contrast with the actions of the company. To fully combat the effects that this industry is having on climate change, automobile manufacturers need to invest more heavily into research into cleaner methods of transportation before it is to late.
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Appendix
1)
Research that has been carried out by Svante Arrhenius (1896 cited in O’Hare et al 2005, page 169) led him to suggest that if the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were to double, then the average global temperature would increase by 5oC.
Before the industrial revolution, levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were 280 PPM (parts per million) however current levels are around 370 PPM, a concentration that has likely not been exceeded in 15 million years. (O’Hare et al 2005, page 169)
In the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, it was highlighted that while CO2 levels in the atmosphere have fluctuated in the past levels have never been as high as they are at present. This film also highlighted that global temperatures change in relation to the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
(An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore, Running Time 22:58)
Wikipedia.com defines climate change as ‘‘any long-term significant change in the ‘average weather’ that a given region experiences.’’ Climate change could drastically affect how humans live on planet earth and could render large portions of the planet inhospitable due to rising sea levels and flooding of land. The climate can change very quickly over as little time as a decade, and these changes can last a very long time. If average global temperatures are to rise too far, the ice caps will melt flooding the sea with cold fresh water, which will not only raise the sea level and lead to the flooding of a large amount of land, it will cause the thermohaline circulation of the oceans currents to cease functioning. This will upset the thermal balance of the oceans and will stop hot ocean currents coming North to release heat into the atmosphere and moderate the colder winter months in the Northern Hemisphere, and the colder ocean currents returning South. According to the scientists Ruth Curry and Cecilie Mauritzen this process could happen in as little as 100 or 200 years.
(John Roach, National Geographic News)
2)
3)
Other criticisms of cars in the Toyota range also include the Prius. Toyota claims that the Prius is an environmentally friendly but construction of the Prius and the components in the nickel-metal hydride battery uses more energy than the construction of a regular petrol engine car and so creates a bigger carbon footprint in the construction. Toyota claims that over the lifetime of a Prius, the CO2 savings is around 43% but has refused to release any official figures. Without the release of official figures on production costs this cannot be proven true and so the Prius itself is coming under some criticism of being a wolf in sheeps clothing.
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