SP’s Q4 2025 Membership Meeting Held at Toyota Supplier Center in Saline, Michigan
SP’s fourth quarterly membership meeting of 2025 was held on November 6–7 at the Toyota Supplier Center in Saline, Michigan, bringing together SP members from across the automotive value chain to share best practices, learn about emerging sustainability issues, and collaborate to identify opportunities to advance environmental performance in the industry.
November 6 – SP Membership Meeting
The meeting opened with remarks from Fred Gersdorff (General Motors), SP Board Chair, and Kellen Mahoney (SP Executive Director), followed by a welcome from Toyota purchasing and sustainability leaders highlighting the company’s sustainability priorities.
Presentations throughout the morning focused on key trends and innovations shaping the automotive sector’s environmental strategies. Speakers shared updates on renewable energy supply chain efforts (Trio and Magna), circularity in product design (Eaton), and evolving expectations in climate risk analysis and reporting (American Axle, Cooper Standard, Schneider Electric). Attendees also heard a compelling case example on leveraging automotive scrap materials to drive social impact (Mend on the Move). SP then announced its 2025 SP Awards winners, recognizing member achievements in sustainability leadership across the value chain.
In the afternoon, leaders of SP’s working groups provided updates on progress and upcoming work across areas including energy optimization (RENEW), water stewardship (Ford), nature-based solutions (Fresh Coast and GZA), sustainable packaging (Magna and Toyota), sustainable materials (BASF), and supplier reporting and logistics. Members also received a preview of the SP Board’s long-term Impact Vision and core strategic pillars, followed by a roundtable discussion where participants identified emerging challenges, priorities, and opportunities for SP to focus on in the year ahead.
The day concluded with a networking reception in downtown Saline, giving attendees time to connect and continue conversations begun during the meeting.
November 7 – Workshops
Small group workshops were held on the morning of November 7. A Supplier Sustainability Expectations & Engagement Workshop guided participants through a hands-on benchmarking exercise comparing anonymized supplier code of conduct environmental sustainability language to identify common themes, gaps, and practical challenges in evaluating performance. This exercise identified insights which will feed into the SP Impact Committee’s work on identifying opportunities to streamline supplier sustainability reporting and engagement processes.
The final session brought together OEM representatives from Ford, General Motors and Toyota for a panel on managing lithium-ion EV batteries at auto dealerships moderated by VMX International. The panelist and attendees discussed real-world experiences, safety and compliance considerations, and emerging needs as EV adoption accelerates. Insights from this session will support ongoing SP collaboration to strengthen education on responsible battery management practices across the industry.
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.