New Guidance for Evaluating the Carbon Intensity of Materials Used in Automotive Products 

Washington, DC, and Southfield, Michigan, May 31, 2022 – The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) and the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) today announced the publication of a new guidance document, “Evaluating the Carbon Intensity of Materials Used in Automotive Products.”

This guidance document was produced through a collaborative process by the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment’s (SP) Sustainable Materials Work Group, whose members include automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC, Stellantis, Toyota Motor North America and their suppliers, in collaboration with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG).

The purpose of the guidance document is to introduce the concept of carbon intensity and outline a straightforward and consistent approach for evaluating carbon intensity information for materials used in automotive products. The document is intended as the beginning of a larger conversation on opportunities to reduce carbon intensity and ultimately improve the consistency and quality of carbon-related reporting and decision-making along the supply chain.

“Together with corporate carbon footprint and energy intensity, product carbon intensity information can help companies to better understand and evaluate the carbon impacts and decarbonization potential of specific input materials and technologies within their value chain. This document highlights how high-quality carbon intensity information can support industry in identifying upstream carbon hotspots and in assessing potential opportunities for sourcing lower-carbon solutions,” said Kristin Oswick, Sales Director, Monolith.

“It can be difficult to assess the upstream sustainability impacts of individual material, process and technology choices when looking at a company’s total carbon footprint alone. The ability to understand upstream factors influencing best-case carbon intensity will be important to the value chain as decarbonization efforts progress and this effort was designed to provide a common foundation to build from as companies work toward long-term industry goals of carbon neutrality and improved sustainability,” said Kellen Mahoney, Director, Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP). 

“Designed to support companies that are new to the process with a better understanding of how to calculate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this document provides a consistent approach for assessing carbon intensity information for input materials. With detailed case studies to illustrate the different inputs to these calculations and their importance, this guidance will help companies assess their current programs and identify opportunities to pursue changes in sourcing and improve decarbonization within their processes and supply chain,” said Lecedra Welch, Program Manager, Environmental Sustainability, Automotive Industry Action Group.

This carbon intensity guidance follows two prior sustainable materials guidance documents recently released by SP and AIAG related to measuring the use of recycled content and renewable content in automotive products. These complimentary downloads are available through SP at www.supplierspartnership.org/recycledcontent and www.supplierspartnership.org/renewablecontent, respectively, and www.aiag.org/sp-aiag-downloads via AIAG’s website.

The new guidance document is also available to download at no cost at www.supplierspartnership.org/carbonintensity and www.aiag.org/sp-aiag-downloads.

About SP

The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) is an association of automakers and their suppliers working in collaboration with the US EPA and other governmental entities toward a shared vision of an automotive industry with positive environmental impact. www.supplierspartnership.org

About AIAG

The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) is a unique not-for-profit organization where OEMs, suppliers, service providers, government entities, and individuals in academia have worked together for 40 years to drive down costs and complexity from the automotive supply chain. With more than 4,400 member companies, AIAG provides a legal, non-competitive forum for collaboration on innovative solutions to common industry issues. www.aiag.org