Climate Policy Engagement: General Motors (GM) receives a grade of C in InfluenceMap’s assessment of corporate engagement on climate change policy, indicating mixed engagement with Paris-aligned policy.
Forecasted 2029 Production: Data from S&P Global Mobility forecasts that by 2029 38% of GM's production will be battery electric vehicles (BEVs), alongside 1% plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), 47% ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles, 14% hybrids and 0% fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).
This compares negatively to the IEA’s 1.5°C scenario, which estimates that 57.5% of all globally produced cars must be either BEV or FCEV by 2030 to meet the 1.5°C global temperature goal.
The graphic below compares the company’s climate policy engagement score with the company’s forecasted percentage production of zero-emission vehicles by 2029 (independent analysis of S&P Global Mobility data). The bubble size represents the relative proportion of vehicle production compared to other major global automakers.
Climate Lobbying Overview: General Motors (GM) is highly engaged in US climate legislation with mixed positioning in 2021-22. The company appears to support some measures to accelerate the electrification of road transport in the US, including EV tax credits in the US Build Back Better Act, however it also continues to have more mixed or negative engagement on GHG emissions standards for both light and heavy duty road vehicles, both at the state and federal level.
The full climate policy engagement profile of General Motors is available here.
Internal decarbonization targets: GM has set a target of "reaching carbon neutrality in its global products and operations" by 2040. The company has also pledged to "eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035" and to offer 30 "all-electric" models globally by 2025, with 40% of the company’s models offered in the US to be battery electric vehicles by the end of 2025. The company does not appear to have specified the extent to which it plans to rely on negative emissions technologies and/or offsets to reach carbon neutrality. The company has also not specified the meaning of "all-electric" in the context of its 2025 goals.
The vehicle production data for General Motors can be filtered by region using the dropdown below
GM’s forecasted fleet composition by technology: In 2029, 38% of GM’s production is forecast to be battery electric vehicles, compared to 9% in 2021. For plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), this increases marginally from 0% in 2021 to 1% in 2029, whereas for other hybrids, this increases from 4% in 2021 to 14% in 2029. For ICE vehicles, this decreases from 88% in 2021 to 47% in 2029. This is in contrast to the IEA’s 1.5°C road transport scenario, which requires 57.5% of all light-duty vehicle sales in 2030 to be either BEV or FCEV to decarbonize road transport in line with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goals.
The ‘Vehicle Technology’ graph below outlines the previous and forecasted technology of vehicles produced by GM from 2021-2029 using independent analysis of S&P Global Mobility data.
GM's forecasted vehicle size: The proportion of SUVs produced by GM in its entire fleet is estimated to increase from 30% in 2021 to 39% in 2029. Small vehicles are also expected to increase from 13% to 18% in the same time period. Forecasts estimate that GM will sell a smaller proportion of medium-sized and large vehicles in 2029 compared to 2021, falling from 11% to 5% and 10% to 9% respectively. The proportion of light commercial vehicles will also likely decrease from 36% in 2021 to 29% in 2029. The AR6 WGIII report found that vehicle size plays a major role in determining vehicle emissions, with larger vehicles a significant driver of increased emissions.
The ‘Vehicle Size’ graph below outlines the previous and forecasted future size of vehicles produced by GM from 2021-2029 using independent analysis of S&P Global Mobility data.
GM’s zero-emission production & the IEA's 1.5°C scenario: Production data for GM in 2029 forecasts that only 38% of all its vehicles will be battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), and 0% fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). This compares negatively to the IEA’s 1.5°C scenario for road transport, which assumes 57.5% of all light-duty vehicle sales in 2030 will need to be zero-emission vehicles (BEVs or FCEVs) to reach global net-zero by 2050.
The below graph compares automakers’ previous and forecasted production of zero-emission vehicles (BEVs and FCEVs), with the trend line extrapolated from the IEA’s 1.5°C scenario for road transport in 2030.
Warning note: This tool uses EU-based historical vehicle emissions data to model future emissions. As GM no long produces vehicles in the EU, the emissions estimates for GM are based on less direct, older matches than other manufactures that sell greater number of vehicles in the EU. Hence, the emissions values for GM are therefore a less accurate estimation of emissions than for other companies and has not been included below.
This model is not a definitive prediction of future emissions values for major vehicle manufacturers, but an estimation of future tailpipe emissions made using the best available emissions data from the EU. Future real-world emissions will likely vary depending on region, as well as granular differences between different vehicles, that are not captured by the model. Additionally, as the model uses EU data, with cars typically having amongst the lowest-CO2 emissions globally, it likely provides an underestimate of current and future CO2 emissions per manufacturer. Full details are available in the methodology.
The vehicle emissions data for General Motors, can be filtered by region using the dropdown below
The 'Fleet Efficiency' graph below provides a simplified model of the companies’ current and future emissions based on combining EU vehicle emissions data with forecasted light-duty vehicle production data supplied by IHS. The three lines represent the estimated lab emissions (modeled on EU testing data) and estimated real-world emissions (based on research from the ICCT) for the company, alongside the green line, representing the IEA's well below 2 degree pathway in their Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS) for road transport
