Is Toyota Really GreenEnvironmentalists are up-in-arms over Toyota's decision to join the American Big Three automakers in a lawsuit against California over legislation to reduce global-warming gases from cars by 30 percent. The bill would require cars to get up to 43 miles per gallon within ten years. Additionally, Toyota—in contrast to Honda and Nissan—sided with Detroit to try to block legislation currently before Congress to boost fuel economy for all new vehicles to 35mpg by 2020, up from 25mpg today. Toyota, claims that achieving such a hard target is not technologically feasible. It is pushing softer legislation that gives automakers until 2022 to improve fuel economy and continues giving breaks to big trucks and SUVs. "We haven't changed what we're doing to reduce our environmental footprint," says Toyota's top lobbyist, Josephine Cooper. "But our engineers are scratching their heads, saying, 'How will we get there?' Those are big numbers to achieve."
Several environmental groups have launched a "How Green Is Toyota?" publicity blitz, which included a letter-writing campaign directed at Toyota's top U.S. executives, with more than 100,000 e-mails. In Detroit last year, eco-warriors stormed a Toyota dealership and draped it with a banner showing flag-wrapped coffins beside the slogan "Driving War and Warming." "Is Toyota really committed to being green, or are they just green scamming?" asks Rob Perks of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
