General Motors Company

General Motors Company (GM) has played a pivotal role in the global auto industry for more than 100 years. From the first Buick horseless carriages to technological marvels like the Chevrolet Volt, GM products and innovations have always excelled at putting the world on wheels. GM is receiving ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year—Climate Communications recognition for its commitment to educating employees, leadership, stakeholders, and customers about energy efficiency and the impacts of climate change. Key 2014 accomplishments include:

• Sparking an ongoing conversation about energy efficiency from the corporate level to its plants and to stakeholders and customers. GM issued more than 18 energy and climate-related press releases, resulting in more than 297 million media impressions in outlets such as USA Today, The Detroit Free Press, The Miami Herald, and ThinkProgress.org.
• Focusing more than 50 percent of the posts on its environmental blog on the topic of energy efficiency and protecting the climate, resulting in 27,000 views.
• Generating a social media conversation around the importance of clean energy with the hashtag CleanEnergyU, resulting in nearly four million impressions from 820 Tweets among college students, professors, non-governmental organizations, and environmental influencers. GM strives to engage its shareholders on how acting on climate change translates into a brighter future.
• Increasing awareness of the need for climate change action during Climate Week. GM CEO Mary Barra provided remarks during the plenary panel at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City about GM’s commitment to clean energy and energy efficiency, garnering nearly 15 million media impressions.
• Creating a video that is being shared in dealership showrooms across the United States and Canada to inform the general public of what it is doing to mitigate climate change. In the video, Global Energy Manager Al Hildreth says, “Our goal is simple: reduce the amount of energy we use at our facilities. It’s good for the environment, good for the economy, reduces our dependence on fossil fuels,” creates “less carbon emissions, less impact on climate change.”
• Contributing to an editorial in The Guardian on how GM joined 11 other companies in signing on to the Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles.
• Launching a new funding source called the Chevrolet Clean Energy Campaign in 2014 after realizing the lack of large-scale energy efficiency projects on the voluntary carbon market. The campaign enables universities to accelerate their impact and save money on utility bills while engaging students in making a positive change for the climate. This campaign resulted in 13 million impressions from 45 media hits in outlets such as Think Progress, Climate Change News, ClimateWire, GreenBiz, Oregonian, and Rochester Business Journal.