Honda Reports Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Honda Motor Co. claims to be the world's first carmaker to announce estimates of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions from all company operations and the use of its products.

Customer use of Honda cars, motorcycles and power devices totaled 220.9 million tons during the fiscal year ended March 31, according to the company. It says emissions from Honda factories and offices totaled 1.2 million tons, and emissions from the generation of electricity and steam used by its facilities was 3.0 million tons.

Honda has been reporting emissions from its facilities, including power generated elsewhere to operate them, since mid-2009. It announced its first set of figures for emissions from its products in June.

This week's report also includes 25 million tons of "other" emissions from sources ranging from creating goods and services purchased by the company to the impact of business travel and employee commuting.

Honda used the generally accepted greenhouse gas protocol to calculate a total of 225.1 million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent. The measure indicates the result of converting carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride into the environmental equivalent of CO₂.