We're funding 28,000+ species assessments with @IUCN to help protect biodiversity: https://t.co/wGteGwkSku pic.twitter.com/rOO0NUnMbL
— ToyotaGB (@ToyotaGB) May 10, 2016
Toyota has long been committed to helping protect the environment, and it renewed those vows with the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, announced last October. The purpose of this new program is to make a positive impact on society while reducing negative impacts of automobiles on the environment, to help establish "a future society in harmony with nature."
"When tackling threats to the global environment, it is important to act early and boldly with concrete steps that will make a difference in people's lives," said Didier Leroy, Toyota executive vice president. "We did it in 1997 with Prius, and more recently with the hydrogen-fuel-cell Mirai. But protecting the environment is not just about CO2 and emissions: biodiversity is equally important to human lives."
To conserve biodiversity and prevent unique and important species from disappearing into extinction, Toyota has entered a five-year partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Toyota will be providing IUCN with $1.2 million in grant funding this year alone, and over the next several years, will continue to fund research into at least 28,000 species, focusing on plants and animals considered critical to human lives as food and income.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species already contains population data, conservation status, and current and projected threats to the survival of nearly 80,000 species. With Toyota's help, the organization hopes to reach 160,000 species by 2020.
"The Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 addresses not only climate change, but also biodiversity," said Inger Andersen, IUCN Director General. "They are two sides of the same coin which can't be dealt with separately. This generous grant from Toyota will enable our Red List researchers to take a big leap towards reaching our goal of assessing 160,000 species by 2020. This would also help IUCN's work in supporting the implementation of the Sustainability Development Goals adopted last year by all the members of the United Nations, particularly the Zero Hunger goal."
Do your part to help the environment by keeping your vehicle's tailpipe emissions low. A tune-up from the Lithia Toyota of Missoula service center can keep your vehicle running more efficiently, and if you're looking for a new vehicle, the Toyota lineup is filled with many highly efficient models.
