SP’s Q1 2026 Membership Meeting
SP’s first quarterly membership meeting of 2026 was held on January 21–22 at the MSU Management Education Center in Troy, Michigan, bringing together representatives from across the automotive value chain to exchange best practices, learn about emerging environmental sustainability issues, and identify opportunities for collaborative projects.
January 21 – Member Workshops
Several working sessions were offered ahead of the main membership meeting, giving members an opportunity to dive deeper into some of the priority topics shaping SP’s 2026 work plan.
Members of SP’s Responsible Battery Work Group convened to focus on development of industry guidance to support safe handling and management of EV batteries at auto dealerships and service center. A Nature & Water Stewardship Workshop brought together members of SP’s water stewardship and nature based solutions work groups to facilitate interactive discussions on biodiversity and water risk assessment tools and processes, including a presentation from Fresh Coast Climate Solutions, and consideration of shared opportunities for the year ahead.
Members of SP’s Transportation & Logistics Work Group discussed plans to help members measure and report on logistics carbon reduction efforts. While the Sustainable Packaging Work Group included member presentations from Magna, Northstar Recycling, and Pratt Industries, along with discussion of opportunities to update SP’s voluntary packaging guidance this year.
Finally, an interactive Carbon & Energy Workshop explored opportunities for new industry resources to optimize high-energy-using systems and support manufacturing optimization and efficiency needs. The day concluded with an evening networking reception.
January 22 – Q1 Membership Meeting
The Q1 membership meeting opened with welcoming remarks from Fred Gersdorff (General Motors and SP Board Chair) and Kellen Mahoney (SP), including an update on SP’s 5-year strategic planning process.
The program began with a keynote from Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome (University of Michigan) on building the business case for a sustainable future, followed by a presentation from Diana Farmer (Science Based Targets initiative) on developments related to SBTi’s net-zero standard and draft standards for the automotive sector.
A panel on low-emissions automotive steel brought perspectives from Dean Kanelos (Nucor), Erika Chan (U.S. Steel), and Daniel Seligman (Ceres), highlighting technical and market trends shaping sustainability of automotive steel. Additional presentations throughout the morning explored new renewable energy resources and international expansion within the Transform: Auto program, hosted by Trio, along with environmental improvement case studies from American Axle.
The afternoon sessions included insights from MEMA’s annual Supplier Sustainability Survey, an overview of a proposed Automotive Carbon Management System led by IAOB, and an update on the EU Omnibus and ESRS regulations from Sphera. Members also heard presentations from Atlas Copco on the role of smart tools in advancing energy-efficient manufacturing, and from RRS on plans for development of a Sustainable Materials Change Management Toolkit pilot.
Additional information on the membership 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.