Dow Jones names BMW the greenest automaker, again
BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics Concept - click above for high-res image gallery
There's a lot of competition to be seen as the world's greenest automaker – just look at the branding efforts surrounding the Toyota Prius or the Chevrolet Volt for examples – but if you look at the way an automaker designs, builds and recycles its products, then BMW is the top dog.
That declaration comes from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World, which has declared BMW Group to be the "most sustainable automobile company worldwide." If this sounds familiar to you, well, perhaps you were reading the site last year or perhaps it's because BMW has won the title for five years in a row now. In fact, BMW reminds us it is the only automaker that has been listed on the Index since it was created in 1999. Guess the DJSI likes BMW's responsibility – the Germans call it Verantwortung – a lot.
Gallery: BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept
[Source: BMW]
PRESS RELEASE:
BMW Group named most sustainable automobile company worldwide for fifth consecutive year.
The latest Dow Jones Sustainability Index World once again ranks the BMW Group as super sector leader.
* 04.09.2009
Munich. The SAM Group today published its latest evaluation for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). For the fifth consecutive year, it rated the BMW Group as the leader in its industry, making it the world's most sustainable automobile manufacturer. The BMW Group is the only company in the automobile industry to have been listed in this important sustainability index family every year since it was established in 1999.
"We are delighted that the BMW Group is super sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World for the fifth consecutive year.This proves once again that we are well on our way to establishing sustainability as the guiding principle for all our processes. We refined our sustainability strategy in the first half of 2009 – this was the next logical step and another important milestone," said Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG.
The Board of Management of the BMW Group declared sustainability one of the company's core strategic principles back in 2000. At the BMW Group corporate sustainability is firmly entrenched throughout the entire value chain: from the development of fuel-saving and alternative vehicle concepts through clean production processes to green recycling practices. The BMW Group also accepts responsibility for its roughly 100,000 employees and is involved in social projects outside of its plants.
In recent months the BMW Group has taken further important steps towards further improving sustainability. Each and every proposal today is measured against the corporate goal of sustainability. At the highest management level a Sustainability Board was established in summer 2009. This board, which comprises the entire Board of Management, determines the strategic alignment for sustainability issues. Twice a year it meets to discuss and adopt the strategies and activities proposed at operational level.
Further information on BMW Group's sustainability activities are available at: www.bmwgroup.com/responsibility
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The SAM Group analyses the economic, environmental and social performance of approximately 2,500 companies and selects the best in each industry for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. General sustainability criteria are considered as well as industry-specific challenges such as climate change. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index was the first global sustainability index to be created, in 1999, and has since been published each year by the SAM Group, based in Zurich, in cooperation with Dow Jones Indexes and STOXX Limited. More information is available at www.sustainability-indexes.com
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mark Kiernan 4:46PM (9/06/2009)
I would trust ABG over Dow Jones, can we have a ABG green automaker of the year?
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FrankBank 5:56PM (9/06/2009)
BMW is a green joke. They have almost the lowest cafe average of any automaker selling vehicles in the US, paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars in CAFE fines for non attainment ( while the US and Japanese companies collectively have paid zero) and then have the nerve to complain that CAFE is impossible for them http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/02/bmw-calls-cafe-not-feasible/.
The Dow Jones "green" nonsense is obviously a paid-for commercial message.
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Mel 6:48PM (9/06/2009)
CAFE is an arbitrary standard set by government regulators and only applies to the US. If you want to look at the sustainability of a globally operating company you obviously have to look beyond this. I would challenge you to back up your claim that bmw is a green joke with something a bit more substantial. Name me another automaker that powers most of its operation with renewable energy and builds a product that is completely and easily recyclable. Just to give you one small example, the dash assembly and wiring in it in a bmw is made of one single kind of plastic manufactured with different properties so that you can shred the whole thing at the end of its life, extract the metal and recycle it. bmw also has a very impressive lineup of small engined fuel efficient cars that they unfortunately don't sell over here. If you want a quality car that you don't have to replace after only a few years, a premium car like bmw starts to make a lot of sense even from a green perspective. There is a lot more to sustainability than just fuel consumption.
why not the LS2LS7? 9:41PM (9/06/2009)
BMW is clearly playing some pretty loose games with the idea of what "the entire dash" is.
First you'd have to take the wood off. Then you have to take the center stack, instrument clusters and air vents out, all of which are made of polystyrene. You'll want to take the trim bits off too, as they are made of polystyrene with metal evaporatively deposited on. Then maybe what's left is all the same material. I'd be shocked if it's the same material as the wiring though, since wiring insulation is made of PVC and the dash doesn't look like PVC to me.
why not the LS2LS7? 9:41PM (9/06/2009)
Oh, I forgot to mention, I was looking a the 528i sedan dash.
William 12:34AM (9/07/2009)
"They have almost the lowest cafe average of any automaker selling vehicles in the US"
not just in the US:
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/03/03/fiat-keeps-the-low-co-sub-2-sub-crown-for-second-year-in-a-row/
http://green.autoblog.com/2007/11/19/psa-leads-the-way-on-co2-emissions-in-europe/
In 2005 they were the LAST out of all European manufacturers (even worse than Daimler).
In 2006, 2007 and 2008 they were second to last (swapping places with Daimler).
"The Dow Jones "green" nonsense is obviously a paid-for commercial message"
I guess money "talks", and not jus tin the EU:
http://green.autoblog.com/2007/12/08/bmw-daimler-and-porsche-win-worst-eu-lobbying-award/
RSR 6:54AM (9/07/2009)
Mel, while I don't disagree that CAFE is an arbitrary standard, the US soon won't be the only country that does this. China is devising a similar system, which copies the CAFE in that it's for the corporate average. While CAFE will be based on footprint of the vehicle, China's system will be based on the vehicle weight.
EU passed the law regulating CO2, which is essentially a fuel consumption law (simply chemistry).
Considering that the US, China, and EU are the biggest auto markets in the world, while China is only getting bigger, we can't no longer say the US is the only such market.....
gorr 6:00PM (9/06/2009)
Dow jones supposedly mean private honest investors doing private business. Bmw is the only big car manufacturers remaining with private ownership. The other car manufacturers are jammed in state subsidies malfunction and complications, cross-dealing of any kind on parts, technologies, credit, financing, renting, shared compagnies including all car manufacturers in one single limp regulated over the law association that prohibited these car manufacturers to sell cars for cash. False, regulated between them, publicity about interest rate. Internationnal currency dealing. Car saleman receiving no commission on car selled cash for the printed price of the car on newspaper ads. Ass liking all day long in goverment offices everywhere in the world while every one is suffocating and paying to kill slowly themself. Probably dow jones wanted to let us know that the last independant car manufacturers shareholders that resist a little bit in ass licking are bmw.
I said to stop any car expenditures toward these chaps till they change the color of their cars to green instead of black.
Many many small mechanical shops can transform a dirty clunkers like say a prius to run green for 500$ to 2 000$. Just put a compressed natural gas tank that can be filled by free, non-polluting, powerful, explosive hydrogen gas.
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stueck 6:30PM (9/06/2009)
gorr at his best
sometimes i wonder if he is just a pre-skynet google bot
Mark Kiernan 6:27PM (9/06/2009)
I guess the BMW Mini will will EV of the year also ;-)
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Zeph 9:27PM (9/06/2009)
In related news, Beavis names Butthead "Sexiest man alive(!)". Women go wild.
Who do these people think they are kidding? Besides the guys that drive BMW's of course. Not that their not nice cars, sure they are, but green? The only real green cars out there are, potentially, the full electrics. I said potentially because of course it depends on where the electricity comes from.
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why not the LS2LS7? 9:29PM (9/06/2009)
This company makes fuel-saving and alternative concepts but fails to offer a single car in the US with less than a 6-cylinder engine.
What a joke.
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bblbbl 1:47AM (9/07/2009)
MINI cooper is a 4 cyl and manufactured by BMW group.
Ray 10:17PM (9/06/2009)
Nissan is greener. They use ethanol fuel cells in their tugs and much of there new plant is supplied with green energy and of course their is now the Leaf which will save far more energy going down the road than anything BMW has for sale. BMW makes and leases a green Minni EV that they use to skirt CARB mandates but will not sell.
BMW and it's CEOs are better than any car company at gaming the green mandates I will grant them that.
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John baldwin 2:17AM (9/07/2009)
Does anyone know what happened the the BMW 7 Series with a hydrogen fuelled internal combustion engine?
We do not see much of them today, are they still running or are they parked uip in a Munich field before going to the recycling yard?
They were an embarrassment to a company aiming to be an eco leader because of the appalling well to wheel CO2 impact compared to diesel....
Oemissions 2:14AM (9/07/2009)
Just what the world needs.
Everyone can have one of these.
Forget about light rail, and ebikes, scooters, buses.
Americans can kill each other and injure each other and put out more money for roads, accidents, car insurance, etc.
with a GREEN vehicle.
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Laurens 6:16AM (9/07/2009)
Can't blame a car company for making products that (American) consumers want. You can credit the company for making products that in every class, type and permutation are better than the competition. In stead of having maybe one flagship on a pile of garbage.
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Mirko 8:38AM (9/07/2009)
I like my 118d. If they want CAFE compliance, maybe they should sell it in the US.
Apparently they still fear that their brand image would be killed if they had attractive 4-cylinder manual transmission RWD cars for sale in the US. How un-BMW would that be.
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Laurens 8:51AM (9/07/2009)
That's where it all started: 2002 tii. Or did they dare to put an automatic in that car, to comply with consumer focus group tests :-(
Mark Kiernan 3:23PM (9/07/2009)
I take it back maybe BMW aren't as bad as they appear. Honestly I was seriously considering buying a BWM 1 series (it has very good fuel efficiency), but after reading some of the posts above I would regard them higher. Still sucks they don't have a road map for a family EV.
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