SP Holds First Membership Meeting of 2024

SP’s 1st quarterly membership meeting of 2024 was held on January 31 – February 1 in Troy, Michigan, bringing together nearly 200 representatives from across the automotive value chain. The event was sponsored by SP members Foresight and Cornerstone.

The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) provides a forum for global vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers to work together toward a shared vision of an automotive industry with positive environmental impact.  SP’s quarterly membership meetings provide an opportunity for members to connect and share environmental sustainability best practices and strategies with industry peers, learn about emerging issues impacting the environment and their business operations, and identify new opportunities for collaborative action.

January 31

Working meetings were held on the afternoon of January 31, followed by an evening networking event, including:

  • Carbon Neutrality Roundtable. SP’s carbon neutrality work group is working on improving consistency and comparability of industry carbon reporting methods, while exploring opportunities for collaboration on common tools and resources to help educate and accelerate action on carbon reduction through the supply chain. SP’s Director Kellen Mahoney opened the session with a review of SP’s objectives and progress. Aurora Fernandez (RENEW) then spoke about a newly formed energy optimization activity, followed by Martha Amram (Glynt.AI) who presented on assessing data readiness for product carbon footprints. Participants then split into three smaller breakout sessions: one facilitated by RENEW related to building an energy optimization playbook; another facilitated by GLYNT.AI workshopping a data readiness assessment process; and, a third facilitated by SP focused on supplier education and engagement opportunities building on a SP carbon maturity roadmap.
  • Emerging Issues Roundtable. The second session provided an opportunity for participants to discuss current and emerging issues impacting their company’s sustainability efforts in smaller breakout groups and consider additional opportunities for SP to support its members going forward. Breakout group topics including sustainable materials and packaging, responsible EV batteries, and, carbon, nature and water goals.

February 1 — Membership Meeting

On February 1, the Q1 SP membership meeting opened with welcoming comments from Kevin Butt, Toyota Motor and Chair of SP’s Board of Directors. Kevin reflected on SP’s progress and successes over the past year and introduced the SP Board’s plans and priorities for the coming year. He also introduced and welcomed Ahmed Elganzouri of Magna International as a new member of SP’s Board.

The meeting included presentations from a range of speakers regarding environmental sustainability trends, best practices and opportunities, including:

  • Bridget McCormick (Proxima) presented initial findings from a Scope 3 Maturity Benchmark effort begun with SP members in the prior quarter.
  • Dan Seligman (Ceres) discussed investor interest in clean steel and Ceres’ efforts related to working with companies to reduce steel supply chain emissions.
  • Lachlan Wright (RMI) spoke about technical work needed to decarbonize steel production and introduced RMI’s Sustainable Steel Buyers Platform seeking to aggregate demand for low-carbon steel.
  • Fearghal Kearney (Circulor) shared information on a growing number of global regulations and industry initiatives requiring upstream supply chain sustainability data and the role of frameworks like Catena-X in addressing consistency and interoperability of data needed for reporting.
  • Andrew Beam (Autoneum) shared a success story related to development of a new automotive component produced from post consumer automotive plastic materials.
  • Ryan Gaylord, Christelle Raphael, and Jensen Widtfeldt (Altura Associates) shared case studies on their work with major automotive companies to support decarbonization efforts, including developing programs to support automotive dealers in environmental sustainability efforts.
  • Shaun Clark (Wildlife Habitat Council) spoke to current global trends related to biodiversity and the growing landscape of Nature-related Frameworks, Initiatives and Standards applicable to corporations.
  • Fernando Bellesse (WWF) discussed potential environmental and social risks associated with beef and leather production and introduced WWF’s work on partnership solutions to eliminate deforestation in beef and leather supply chains.
  • Bridget Grewal (Magna) reviewed the work of SP’s sustainable packaging work group, recent guidance related to expendable packaging recycling, and a coming update to existing SP guidance related to manufacturing packaging. She also provided an update on the progress of an SP EGLE grant project focused on automotive packaging recycling in Michigan.
  • Alex Phan (Magna) presented on the outcomes of a recent SP wood pallet subcommittee project, including the development of a wood stringer pallet guidance document.
  • Doug Parker (Ecolumix) discussed opportunities for organizations to apply facility environmental compliance and performance data to identify non-compliance and sustainability reporting risks.

Additional information on the membership meeting discussions, presentations and next steps is available to current SP member companies. SP’s next quarterly membership meeting will be held on April 30 – May 1, 2024 at General Motors in Warren, Michigan. Please contact us if you’d like to learn more about SP and opportunities to participate as a member.

© 2024 Suppliers Partnership for the Environment