Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Sierra Club launched online ads drawing attention to automaker hypocrisy and greenwashing this week during the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opens to the public on Nov. 21.
The ads launch today -- a trade day that automakers are making press announcements and vehicle debuts -- on the L.A. Times homepage targeted to the L.A. area and online in the downtown L.A. area, promoting a Sierra Club action targeting executives at General Motors, Toyota, Fiat-Chrysler and other automakers to protect clean car standards.
“While General Motors, Toyota and Fiat-Chrysler put on a greenwashing show in Los Angeles, these automakers are taking heat from consumers across the nation and California state leaders for siding with the Trump administration in court against clean cars and climate action. It’s laughable that these automakers are making claims about their clean, green automotive products in L.A. right now given their choice to support the federal government’s attack on California’s long-standing authority to tackle transportation emissions,” said Andrew Linhardt, Deputy Director of Advocacy for Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign.
Here is a sample of the online ad:
Last Friday, California Governor Newsom announced two major decisions: Starting immediately, California will stop purchasing gas-powered sedans for its government fleet and starting in January, California will no longer purchase vehicles for government fleets from the automakers that have not agreed to follow California’s clean car rules.
The Sierra Club is one of a number of environmental, consumer rights, and science organizations that have joined with the state of California and other states to challenge the Trump administration’s efforts to block California from setting its own stricter tailpipe emissions limits and setting zero-emission vehicle requirements. The Trump administration’s attack has wide-reaching implications beyond California; it also impacts the rights of 13 other states and D.C to protect their residents from tailpipe pollution.
Sierra Club volunteers will also be passing out flyers to the public at the L.A. Auto Show this weekend calling out the hypocrisy of certain automakers and demanding they focus not on dirty cars litigation but on clean cars innovation and sales.
Sierra Club recently released the Rev Up Electric Vehicles report -the first-ever nationwide survey of the electric vehicle consumer shopping experience. It shows that automakers and auto dealers are failing to provide EV inventory on their lots, failing to adequately train their salespeople about EV products, and even sometimes failing to charge the vehicles so they are available for test drives.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.