Sierra Club Statement: Fourth “Lead the Charge” Automaker Ranking Showing An Even Cleaner EV is Within Reach

GLOBAL-Momentum is building towards an even cleaner electric vehicle (EV), according to a scorecard of 18 global automakers. Leading companies are producing cars that don't just run on electricity but are manufactured using decarbonized and circular materials, such as fossil-free steel and recycled battery minerals, while minimizing negative impacts on the environment, workers and communities.

The fourth edition of the Lead the Charge Auto Supply Chain Leaderboard, which ranks global automakers based on their efforts to build equitable, sustainable, and fossil-free supply chains for electric vehicles, shows a majority of automakers are now taking important initial steps to clean up their supply chains.

The analysis, published by a network of climate, human rights and investor groups, also shows a core group of industry leaders - Ford, Mercedes, Tesla, Volvo and Volkswagen - are pushing further ahead.

These companies at the head of the pack have achieved a rate of progress that is double that of the remaining 13 companies since the first edition of the Leaderboard, and are starting to implement more effective practices for decarbonizing the materials used in their vehicles and mitigating environmental and human rights abuses in their supply chains.

For example:

• Volvo and Mercedes have made significant investments in steel and aluminum decarbonization and are now disclosing specific quantities of low carbon steel and aluminum used in their new EV models, Mercedes' CLAand Volvo's ES90.
• Mercedes, Volkswagenand Teslapublish detailed raw material reports on their progress to prevent, mitigate and remedy human rights and environmental harms across a range of supply chains such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.

When leading performance across all automakers for all 88 indicators is taken into account, a score of 86% emerges. Automakers could attain this score simply by matching the existing best practices of their peers across different areas, showing that an even cleaner EV of the future is within reach.

Much of the most significant progress documented by the analysis is specific to electric vehicle supply chains, with automakers choosing to decarbonize steel and aluminum in their EVs, as opposed to their outdated internal combustion engine vehicles. Steel and aluminum production alone account for about 13% of global CO2 emissions. Steeland aluminumalone make up about 13% of global emissions.

Automakers are also often going further on transparency, recycling and responsible sourcing for their EV battery supply chains. This is a boost for the electric vehicle industry amid policy and industry pullbacks in the U.S. and Europe, demonstrating to consumers that there can be even more benefits to buying EVs, beyond just eliminating tailpipe emissions.

Other progress includes:

• Chinese companies were the biggest improvers overall this year. Geely, now the top scoring East Asian automaker, has developed some of the industry's best practices on battery decarbonization and recycling and has continued to make significant progress on human rights. BYD, the world's largest EV maker, has taken important first steps, such as putting in place a new code of conductfor suppliers and a supply chain grievance mechanism.
• A majority of automakers have now taken initial steps on respecting Indigenous Peoples' rights, representing 12 of the 18 automakers; in 2023 there were only six such automakers
• Over half of the automakers improved their scores on battery recycling and repurposing, with examples of progress ranging from investments in battery design to improve recyclability through to commercial partnerships to reuse EV batteries in stationary storage and to bring innovative new recycling technologies to market.
• While Teslaremains number one in the overall rankings, Volvois number one on supply chain decarbonization, and Fordon responsible sourcing. Because of Tesla and Ford's performance, US companies were the top performers overall
• Together with Geely and BYD, Renault achieved the joint largest score jump due to making significant improvements across all of the human rights areas

But the leaderboard also shows there is still a long way to go, with even industry leaders showing patchy performances and no company reaching 50% of the total scores obtainable in the analysis. There has even been regressions by some carmakers:

• The world's biggest car maker, Toyota, continues to be an industry laggard when it comes to cleaning up its supply chain, and is flailing at the bottom of the rankings along with Chinese state-owned car companies such as GAC and SAIC, who have made little to no progress in areas such as steel and aluminum decarbonization or responsible mineral sourcing. Toyota and Honda are tied for the fewest battery electric vehicles sold - EVs made up just 2% of their total vehicle sales in 2025.
• GM significantly fell down the Leaderboard rankings this year as the only automaker that failed to publish an annual sustainability report. GM has now been overtaken in the rankings by Geely and Hyundai Motors.

In response to the Lead the Charge launch, Sierra Club representatives released the following statements:

"As the Trump administration attempts to roll back U.S. climate policy and vehicle emission standards, it is more important than ever for automakers to advance global efforts to clean up their supply chains while continuing to produce electric vehicles," said Katherine García, Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All Director."The auto industry thrives on regulatory certainty, and the current administration is once again throwing the industry into disarray. This year's Lead the Charge analysis shows that greater EV adoption and advancing more sustainable and responsible supply chains are not mutually exclusive. In fact, growing the EV market can serve as a catalyst for clean and equitable supply chains. Automakers have the power to lead us toward a healthier, more sustainable future."

"A clean supply chain is a key component to achieving a greener vehicle. It's not only good for the climate, but good for business, too," said Sierra Club Industrial Transformation Campaign Lead Harry Manin. "In 2025, we saw a foreign auto manufacturer commit to build a coal-free steel mill in the South, and a U.S. automaker pledged to buy its steel once available. This is but one example through which the Lead the Charge scorecard illuminates that a stable supply of clean, renewably powered steel and aluminum manufacturing is essential for automakers-and states and countries-intent on winning the greatest shares of the EV market."

About the Leaderboard:

• The Leaderboard is designed to give companies a score out of 100%. This enables an analysis of relative performance between automakers and of how close or far companies are to meeting the expectations within the scorecard.
• The Leaderboard considers 1,584 data points, evaluating each company across 88 indicators. The indicators are divided into two main sections: fossil-free and environmentally sustainable supply chains, and human rights and responsible sourcing. Within each of these there are four subsections, representing different supply chain issue areas.
• This year's Leaderboard's total average score across all 18 automakers stands at 25%, with no company achieving a total score of 50% or over. Tesla has the highest score at 49%, followed by Ford and Volvo at 45% and 44% respectively. China's SAIC has the lowest score at just 3%.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of 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 https://www.sierraclub.org.