WWF and Toyota form global partnership, join forces on Living Asian Forest Project and climate change

Toyota Pledges US $1 Million Annually to WWF on a Five-Year Partnership

Tokyo – Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has signed a five-year Global Corporate Partnership agreement with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that involves pledging an annual grant of US$ 1 million in support of biodiversity conservation and the battle against climate change. Toyota is the first automobile manufacturer and the first Japanese company to sign the agreement. The agreement went into effect on July 1, 2016.

The partnership with WWF is an initiative under one of the six challenges of Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 – Establishing a Future Society in Harmony with Nature. This challenge is concerned with connecting nature conservation activities within Toyota companies to the world and the future.

The annual US $1 million grant from Toyota is channelled into WWF’s Living Asian Forest Project. The Living Asian Forest Project focuses on conserving tropical forest areas and wildlife in Southeast Asia. The project consists of biological research, forest restoration and advocacy of increased sustainable production and sourcing of forest products (e.g. wood, pulp and paper, palm oil and natural rubber) and joining the Science-based Targets Initiative aimed at helping companies combat climate change. It operates in Borneo (Kalimantan) and Sumatra in Indonesia and the Mekong region which covers Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

“When we started working on concrete actions to achieve our Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, we decided that joining forces with non-governmental organizations which are experts in their field was essential,” said Didier Leroy, Toyota’s Executive Vice President. “Our partnership, and projects like the Living Asian Forest Project, are among the most effective ways for a company like ours to make a positive impact and raise awareness among our employees, suppliers, and customers of the importance of sustainable resource management.”

“WWF is delighted to join forces with Toyota in order to accelerate efforts needed to prevent dangerous degradation of the natural systems we all depend on,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International. “We need more private sector organizations like Toyota to step up and find solutions to these challenges to help make a safer, healthier and more sustainable world a reality for generations to come and our living planet.”

For more information on about Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050, please visit https://global.toyota/en/sustainability/esg/challenge2050/, and https://www.wwf.or.jp/campaign/lafp/english/ for more information about WWF’s Living Asian Forest Project.