SP Q1 2021 Membership Meeting – Part 1
The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) Q1 Membership Meeting was held as a virtual event over January 26-28, 2021. SP’s quarterly membership meetings are designed to provide a forum for global automotive manufacturers, their large and small suppliers, and other partners from around the world to work together toward a shared vision of an automotive industry with positive environmental impact.
The Q1 meeting began on January 26 with meetings on SP’s Biodiversity, Emerging Professionals and Technology & Innovation working groups.
Biodiversity

SP’s Biodiversity Work Group is providing a platform to educate, engage and recognize actions of public and private stakeholders across the automotive value chain in implementing conservation projects that are individually meaningful, yet collectively groundbreaking. In this session, SP’s partners at the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) provided an update on recent initiatives of WHC before reviewing tools and resources that have been developed for SP to support members’ conservation efforts, such as the SP / WHC Pollinator Toolkit. Participants reviewed data on the outcomes and impacts of pollinator projects implemented by participating SP members through 2020, and discussed new resources and inititiaves that SP and WHC may collaboratively develop to support advancement of corporate conservation efforts in the automotive supply chain.
Emerging Professionals

SP’s Emerging Professionals Work Group members are working to cultivate their current work environments into sustainable and inclusive communities, adopting the mindset of ‘No action is too small’, while promoting sustainability in all business operations. In this meeting, participants reviewed the status of the work group’s pilot program with the Wespire sustainability engagement platform (Drive) and outlined an annual calendar of action-oriented campaigns and events to support the work group’s goals.
Technology & Innovation

SP’s Technology & Innovation Advisory Council is developing structured process to assist companies of all sizes within the SP network to share innovative ideas and solutions that can address member companies’ significant environmental sustainability challenges and needs. In this meeting, Council leaders announced details of a new Awards program SP is launching in 2021 to recognize and spread awareness of member’s environmental successes. Participants also discussed key environmental sustainability challenges and opportunities related to automotive operations and outlined next steps in prioritizing and designing innovation sourcing programs to help address shared challenges.
The Q1 meeting continued on January 27 with a working session on building the business case for carbon & energy projects organized by SP’s EHS Forum, along with a working session on EV battery recycling organized by SP’s Responsible Battery Work Group.
Building the Business Case for Carbon & Energy Projects

SP’s EHS Forum is providing a forum to facilitate deeper discussions and connections among SP members related to current and emerging environment, health and safety issues impacting the industry, as identified by SP members. Following up on discussions in SP’s Q4 2020 membership meeting, this session focused on building the business case for carbon & energy projects. SP member speakers from Edison Energy, Manufacture 2030 and Tetra Tech shared strategies and best practices their companies have implemented to build a successful business case for decarbonization efforts, and then facilitated small-group breakout sessions where attendees discussed the topic among their peers.
EV Battery Recycling

SP’s Responsible Battery Work Group is providing a forum for SP members from across the value chain to work together to advance responsible management of advanced batteries in electric vehicles, with a particular focus on end-of-life management of lithium-ion batteries. Building on discussions in the work group’s Q4 meeting, this session featured presentations from Battery Solutions, Call2Recycle, KBI / Retriev, and NextEnergy regarding challenges, opportunities and best practices related to collection, transportation and logistics in safely and responsibly repurposing and recycling end-of-life EV batteries. The work group will continue the discussions in its February 2021 meeting, including updates on SP member projects that have successfully advanced through the DOE’s Battery Recycling Prize program.
Stay tuned for part two, with more details on the remaining Q1 meeting sessions.
SP’s next quarterly membership meeting is scheduled to be held as a virtual event on April 27-29, 2021. As always, SP members and collaborators are encouraged to reach out to learn more about how to get involved in SP work group activities and initiatives and to share your ideas to keep moving us toward our shared vision of an automotive industry with positive environmental impact.
Additional information on the Q1 meeting discussions, presentations and next steps is available to current SP member companies. Please contact us if you’d like to learn more about SP and opportunities to participate as a member.