We're funding 28,000+ species assessments with @IUCN to help protect biodiversity: https://t.co/wGteGwkSku pic.twitter.com/rOO0NUnMbL
— ToyotaGB (@ToyotaGB) May 10, 2016
The Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 launched last October, as a series of goals and challenges to help reduce the impact of automobiles on the planet's health.
"When tackling threats to the global environment, it is important to act early and boldly with concrete steps that will make a difference in people’s lives," said Didier Leroy, Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation. "We did it in 1997 with Prius, and more recently with the hydrogen fuel cell Mirai. But protecting the environment is not just about CO2 and emissions: biodiversity is equally important to human lives."
The automaker has taken some steps toward preserving biodiversity locally, including coexisting with nesting red-tailed hawks at a Toyota facility in Arizona. To enact changes globally, Toyota announced a partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to span five years.
Toyota will be funding the IUCN to conduct threat assessments to at least 28,000 species, helping the IUCN reach its goal of assessing 160,000 species by 2020.
These assessments are used to populate the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species -- a tool used by conservation professionals around the globe as a "barometer of life," and as a roadmap guiding wildlife management practices. Maine's own endangered box turtle (Terrapene Carolina) is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
You can help protect the global ecosystem by reducing greenhouse gas emissions as you drive. Browse fuel-efficient Toyota vehicles for sale in Augusta at Charlie's Toyota.
