TME is the first company within the Brussels area to mount a privately-owned wind turbine on its premises, and with a total capacity of 10 kW, it can generate up to 24 MWh per year. The wind turbine’s advanced design incorporates vertical wings which allows it to efficiently harness the wind from all directions and has an innovative ‘owl’ finish to reduce noise. And, standing at a height of only 23 m, it avoids any risk of interference with the nearby Zaventem airport’s operations.

Harnessing wind power is only one part of TME’s plan - the company’s renewable electricity supply is further boosted with the installation of 1400 photovoltaic panels capable of generating a maximum power of 460 kWp. It is expected that this solar array will generate 360 MWh per year.

Clean energy has been high on Toyota’s European agenda for several years resulting in 100% renewable electricity for all European operations in 2019. The two new installations in Brussels are in line with the company’s strategy to increase its own renewable electricity production at Toyota facilities, following similar investments at other European sites (TPCE solar panels, TMUK solar panels, TMMF solar wall, Zeebrugge windmill, solar panels at Toyota Logistics Centre Madrid).

Over the last 5 years, TME’s facilities have undergone a comprehensive renewal programme to improve their energy efficiency, including the installation of LED lighting, A/C renewal and a new building management system. This has resulted in an overall reduction of electricity consumption by 35% from 5 GWh to 3.3 GWh per year and, thanks to the latest initiatives, TME will now be able to generate more than 10% of the yearly electricity consumption on-site.

Toyota’s European operations include 9 manufacturing plants, 14 Parts Depots Centres, 7 Vehicle Logistics Centres, 29 National Marketing & Sales companies (NMSCs), TME Head Office & its branch offices, and Toyota Technical Centre, which jointly had a total electricity demand of around 500 GWh.

The 100% renewable electricity usage could be achieved across all operations through a mix of:

• Encouraging renewable electricity production on Toyota sites in collaboration with local stakeholders (TPCE solar panels, TMUK solar panels, TMMF solar wall, Zeebrugge windmill, solar panels at Toyota Logistics Centre Madrid,…)
• Purchasing of renewable electricity where available
• Purchasing of European Certificates (“Guarantee of Origin”) for EU countries as regulated by EU Directive 2009/28/EC
• Purchasing of I-REC (“International-Renewable Electricity Certificate”) for non-EU countries as recognized by the international I-REC standard

The achievement to decarbonise the electricity demand are in addition to Toyota’s on-going efforts to reduce overall energy consumption in its operations. For example, in our manufacturing plants, since 2013 (baseline year for Challenge 2050), the energy per car built has been reduced by 18%. In comparison to the EU28 industry average of 2.3 MWh energy per vehicle produced, Toyota required 48% less energy per vehicle produced.

Environmental sustainability has always been a priority for Toyota. Environmental matters have been discussed by Toyota top-management since 1963 when the Environmental Committee was established. Since 1973 the company promoted environmental awareness of its employees through Environmental Month. The company established a 5-Year action planning in 1992 to reduce its environmental footprint and conserve valuable resources for the planet; not only by reducing the environmental impact of automobiles, but also focusing on all related operations.

The Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 was announced in 2015. It comprises 6 challenges* and is the foundation of Toyota’s long-term strategy, covering the most important environmental impacts of the company.

Achieving 100% renewable electricity is contributing to the company’s targets for Challenge 2 (Lifecycle Zero CO₂ Emissions) and Challenge 3 (Manufacturing Plant Zero CO₂ Emissions), which aim to eliminate CO₂ emissions of the entire vehicle lifecycle, including supporting operations and manufacturing plants.