Measuring Renewable Content of Automotive Products
The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) – an association of global automakers and their suppliers working together to advance environmental sustainability through the automotive supply chain – and the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) have published a new guidance document, “Measuring Renewable Content of Automotive Products.”
The guidance document was produced through a collaborative process by the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment’s (SP) Materials Efficiency Work Group, whose members include automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC (HDMA), Stellantis, Toyota Motor North America and their suppliers, in collaboration with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG).
The document is designed to outline a common industry-supported definition and straightforward approach for measuring renewable content of automotive products consistent with those approaches outlined in other standards.
An accompanying guidance document related to measuring use of recycled content has also been developed.
Guidance Document: Measuring Renewable Content of Automotive Products
The purpose of this document is to provide a common industry-supported definition and straightforward approach for measuring renewable content of automotive products consistent with those approaches outlined in other standards.
Project Scope
The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) Materials Efficiency Work Group (MEWG) works to promote collaboration amongst automotive manufacturers and suppliers to increase use of sustainable practices, processes, and materials in the production and content of vehicles, and to incentivize sustainable innovation.
While there are established definitions of certain key terms related to the topic of sustainable materials that have been developed by other organizations, investigation by SP indicates a range of definitions and interpretations of such terms may be in use across industry today. We are not aware of another organization that has developed a commonly accepted definition of key terms for measuring the use of sustainable materials in the automotive industry to date.
Therefore, an SP MEWG Sustainable Materials Definitions Sub-team was formed with the objective to develop straightforward common definitions of key terms related to sustainable materials to minimize duplication of effort and promote consistent approaches in communications with suppliers, sustainability reporting and measuring industry progress. SP is collaborating with AIAG in the development of these definitions to promote common, consistent language across industry.
Going forward, the SP MEWG Sustainable Materials Definitions Sub-team intends to build on learnings from this process to address common definitions for additional aspects of sustainable materials where needed.
Acknowledgements: This guidance document was produced through a collaborative process by the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) Materials Efficiency Work Group Sustainable Materials Definitions Sub-Team in collaboration with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG). Volunteers contributing to the development of this document included representatives of Autoneum, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, iPoint, Magna International, Monolith, Toyota Motor North America, Tosoh, Toyota Tsusho America and UGN.
Disclaimer: This document is intended to provide guidance for automakers, their suppliers and the general public on measuring renewable content in automotive products. The guidance included in this document is based on the professional judgment of the individual authors and reviewers and may be used at a company’s discretion. SP and its member companies make no warranty, expressed or implied, and assume no liability for any form of damage that may result from the application of the guidance contained in this document.