Honda's commercials saying they are going to be carbon neutral by 2050. What?
What does this mean, if anything? How would it be possible for a car company to be carbon neutral? Is this just nonsense/posturing since it’s so long from now?
There will for sure be some "Creativity" with their numbers.
"Carbon Neutral" will only apply to the manufacturing of the product, not the life of the product.
It will probably also only apply to the assembly that is done in-house. It might not apply to things like the tires.
It will also probably be done through some bulllshit "carbon credits", which are about as honest and reliable as those "no, our $2 chocolate definitely didn't use any child labour, and the farmers definitely aren't paid slave-wages." badges you find on foods.
As someone who has a client who is an automotive OEM (I work with Customs and Imports), most of the parts are made by suppliers, who use parts from other suppliers, and barely anything is done in-house except maybe final assembly, so your comment totally tracks.
It’s suppliers all the way down LOL.
Ah this makes sense. Seems like they are trying to say Honda’s impact on the planet will be carbon neutral, which seems impossible.
You assume they are even going to justify the bare minimum... it is so far in the future they are just hoping everyone will forget about it.
Sorry, not an answer here, but a good analogy. It has a lot to do with creative accounting and making up definitions.
😂 hilarious and perfect
Delta airlines is running similar ads. It all sounds like they are kicking the can down the road. “Oh in thirty years everything will magically be better!”
It's not like these pledges are legally binding. You just say you're working on it and that means governments can point at that and say they don't need to implement any regulation as 'the industry is self regulating'. Then 30 years later nobody will think to check, or the corporation will be acquired by someone else, or, best case scenario we have magical technology that makes it actually possible.
They can, when they limit CO2 emissions as much as possible and compensatw for the remaining emissions by planting trees and other tricks.
Also, 'being carbon neutral' can mean several things:
And so on,... it all is just how you define it.
My house is the greenest in the neighbourhood and probably in the country. That it has nothing to do with being eco friendly but more with the paint on it is just a minor detail. ;)
Thank you for actually attempting to answer the question instead of just spouting the knee-jerk reaction of "it's bullshit".
And yes, maybe it is bullshit. Maybe they'll never end up actually offsetting their carbon footprint. Maybe they'll think they are, but end up getting scammed out themselves. Last Week Tonight did a great piece on Carbon Offsets on that whole subject.
By 2050 we will be so fucked no one will be paying attention.
It means they're either holding out of a sudden breakthrough that will let them become carbon neutral overnight for free or they're hoping no one will be around to call them out on their bullshit by then
Roche pharma also has a goal to reduce their cost to society by half by 2030.
What does that mean? What metric measures cost to society? What will they actually do? Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Could mean the world will end in 2049, so nobody will be here to dispute it.
Nice! :)
Most probably carbon offsetting
It's like Micheal Scott yelling "AND WE'RE GOING CARBON NEUTRAL!!!!" at the stock holders meeting.
Green washing.
How would it be possible for a car company to be carbon neutral?
By only using carbon neutral energy in their manufacturing? Car companies are really not special in that regard.
I'm not saying that's going to happen and that they aren't posturing. But like there is no fundamental mystery to the "how".
Just gotta buy some carbon credit and then you can burn as much oil as you want.
And the carbon credits are basically some scammer that promises to plant some trees somewhere remote where nobody can actually check.
While it's a different company I think Bosch as an automotive supplier can serve as an example on how this can be calculated as they are already "carbon neutral".
https://www.bosch.com/sustainability/environment/
At present, we use carbon credits to offset residual CO₂ emissions, such as from combustion processes (heating, process heat). In addition, we refer to carbon credits to offset electricity sourced in countries with only limited availability of green electricity. As we make progress with levers 1 to 3, we want to gradually reduce the share that we offset to achieve carbon neutrality to no more than 15 percent by 2030.
Same way phone manufacturers are aiming to be 100% green by passing off all the blame to the client. "We may have made it impossible for you to change the battery once it's fucked but it was your choice to throw the phone in the bin"
I remember when the future date for goals no one intended to meet was 2030.
Yeah…. Well… The future isn’t what it used to be.
Yes, it's nonsense. In 2050 if they aren't carbon neutral, they haven't broken any laws so there'll be no punishment. So why not announce lofty goals?
Why do you think it is impossible for people at Honda to care?
It is not impossible for people at Honda to care. Just not the right people, those that can actually make a difference. The decision makers are all looking for what gives them the most profit, if not then they are not in their position long or, really, never get to a position that matters in the first place.
The only thing that capitalism cares about is profit, by very definition.
Money tends to have that effect.
Carbon compensation like reforestation
Energy from green sources for their factories
No more gas cars also helps a whole lot if they calculate over the car's lifetime vs a gas car
Seems like you missed their other commercial where they said they'd start a nuclear Armageddon in 2049
🍃Greenwashing🍃
As for honda yeah theyre bullshitting. But as for a car company being carbon neutral, where does it become impossible?
Bs they won't stand behind.
The robot dogs with machine guns on their back want to have a word with you about your negative opinions about the company
Probably involves carbon offsets.
Carbon neutral means you try to "offset" your carbon. It's half scam, half helpful. The idea is if your company produces an unavoidable amount of carbon, you offset this by supporting Carbon-free solutions elsewhere making your net production "neutral". It's a scam because sometimes the offset is stuff that was never going to produce carbon, and also because using other areas to claim "neutral" causes a weird double count. Carbon neutral is less good of a solution than carbon free, but it's a step in the right direction.
However, target year of 2050?? Fucking what? That's not something to brag about, that's painfully and embarrassingly slow. That's embarrassingly slow to be carbon free, much less carbon neutral.