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General Motors has positioned itself as a leader in automotive decarbonization. The American car manufacturer has committed to ambitious climate goals, including cleaner manufacturing and zero-emission transportation. GM has also pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.
The most prominent decarbonization efforts are the company’s efforts to transition to an all-electric future, and it has plans to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035.
GM reported a 40 percent year-over-year increase in EV sales during 2024’s Q2, and while the transition to decarbonization is now slated to take longer than originally planned, the commitment is still there.
In 2024, the company signed its largest renewable power purchase agreement to date with NorthStar Clean Energy. The fifteen-year, 180-megawatt allocation will supply three assembly plants with renewable electricity. GM now sources renewable energy from seventeen plants across eleven states, a steep reduction in Scope 2 emissions. Facilities like those at GM’s Lansing Delta Township location are LEED-Gold certified and include a 75-acre nature habitat.
GM has also focused on water intensity reductions, aiming to cut operational energy and water use by 35 percent by 2035. Progress has been made in locations like its assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where heat recovery systems repurpose waste heat from landfill gas-powered generators. The project earned a 2024 DOE Better Project Award. A similar heat recovery system in St. Catharines, Ontario, is expected to go online in 2025.
On the manufacturing side, GM prioritizes circular economy principles, with forty-three landfill-free facilities recycling over 96 percent of waste and converting 3 percent into energy. Additionally, GM also utilizes stop-start systems and aerodynamic optimizations to enhance fuel efficiency in internal combustion engines.
There are still significant challenges, like fluctuating demand for EVs, supply chain constraints, and quickly evolving political environments. The company revised its North American EV production capacity from one million vehicles to a more ramped-up approach.
Cost is also crucial. The company continues to leverage federal tax credits to lower consumer costs for EVs. Recent successes like Cadillac’s Lyric (accounting for one-in-six Cadillac sales) highlight progress made in the EV space.
On the broader strategic front, those like Omar Vargas, vice president and head of global public policy, are fighting to make it easier for automakers to pursue sustainable energy and EV production. Vargas’s past roles include the US Department of Justice, PepsiCo, Praxair, and 3M, and the executive now leads teams in regulatory affairs, legislative affairs, broader policy advocacy, and third-party engagement worldwide.
Vargas is proud of the decarbonization and regulatory efforts GM has made across the world to achieve zero-emission status. He is also deeply interested in technology that will make travel safer for passengers, like AI and autonomous driving.
The VP says a leader is defined by their broader team, and therefore, any recognition that he earns is also reflective of that same team. Vargas is proud to work with an incredibly diverse group, a relative rarity in corporate America, and one that makes their collective success even more rewarding.
Vargas sees himself as a coach, one he hopes can bring the best out of all of his people. He believes in meeting people where they are and trying to understand points of views that differ from his own.
The VP says that each day that he wakes up happy about what he does, he knows he’s continuing to make the right decisions for himself. Outside of his work at GM, the lawyer is a builder, a fixer, a gardener, and a fan of any activity that engages different “muscles” than the ones he uses as an attorney.
Alliance for Automotive Innovation works with the iconic companies producing most vehicles sold today in the United States plus major automotive suppliers, advanced battery manufacturers, autonomous vehicle innovators and semiconductor producers.
We represent the entire automotive industry that supports 10 million jobs and pumps $1 trillion into the economy each year.
We’re especially proud to work side-by-side with Omar Vargas, Vice President and Head of Global Public Policy at General Motors. Omar’s a government and auto industry leader – committed to a cleaner, safer and smarter transportation future for all.
Congratulations Omar.
