Nissan Honored by U.S. EPA for Second Consecutive Year
31 October 2000
Nissan Honored by U.S. EPA for Second Consecutive Year
- Nissan's Top Environmental Officer Receives This Year's EPA Award
For Exceptional Leadership in Protecting the Earth's Climate -
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 For the second consecutive year,
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (NML) received top honors from the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) as the recipient of the prestigious
2000 Climate Protection Award.
The individual award honors were given to Mr. Nobuo Okubo, executive vice
president of NML and chairman of Nissan's Environmental Management Committee.
He was given the award for his leadership in developing advanced vehicle
technologies that have contributed to significant improvements in fuel economy
of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles, climate protection and environment
protection.
The U.S. EPA presented 19 awards at the 2000 Earth Technologies Forum in
Washington. The awards recognize individuals and companies that demonstrate
their commitment to the environment through exceptional leadership, personal
dedication and technical achievements.
"I am honored to have been selected by the EPA and an international panel
of judges to receive this award," said Okubo. "The award gives tremendous
encouragement to the engineers and production teams to continue in their past-
breaking efforts to address the environmental impact of transportation on
climate change."
Nissan's most recent and significant environmental accomplishments
include:
-- The first automobile manufacturer in the U.S. to install the equipment
for recovery of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-12) refrigerants at all its
U.S. dealerships.
-- Among the first automakers worldwide to eliminate the use of CFCs as a
foaming and cleaning agent in manufacturing processes.
-- Nissan was the only automaker in 1997 to receive the EPA's "Best of
the Best" award for protecting the stratospheric ozone layer.
-- Nissan was the only automaker in 1999 to receive the EPA Climate
Protection Award for its leadership in global warming, HFC reduction
and fuel economy improvements.
-- Nissan was one of the first automakers in 1999 to demonstrate a fuel
cell vehicle with hydrogen supplied by an on-board methanol-reforming
system.
-- Nissan is curbing HFC emissions in Japan where there is no government
regulation regarding HFCs.
-- The first automobile manufacturer in the world to introduce a
powertrain system combining direct-injection gasoline (DiG) engine
with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). The DiG-CVT
technology was honored with the Energy Conservation Prize from the
director general of Japan's Agency of Natural Resources and Energy.
-- Development of the Nissan Sentra CA, a gasoline-fueled Super Ultra Low
Emission Vehicle (SULEV) which emits about one-fourth of the unburned
hydrocarbon and one-tenth of the oxides of nitrogen as the cleanest
gasoline-powered car now sold in California. The California Air
Resources Board certified the technologies used in the Sentra CA last
fall.
In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling,
engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing,
distribution and manufacturing. More information on Nissan in North America
and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at
http://www.nissandriven.com or contact the corporate media line at 310/771-5631.
Note: For Nissan's additional environmental accomplishments, please
reference the attached chart.
Contact: Terri Hines, Nissan Corporate Communications, (703) 456-2552
(Or visit the Nissan Online News Bureau at http://www.nissannews.com)
NISSAN'S ENVIRONMENTAL MILESTONES
1970s Environmental Management Department established in
Japan Corporate Environmental Management Rules developed
Establishment of an in-house waste treatment system in
Japan
1980s Promotion of the installation of facilities and equipment
for recycling waste into reusable resources
1981 March Presented with Chairman's Award by the Clean Japan Center
recognizing the Tochigi assembly plant's recycling efforts
1989 February CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) Committee formed with worldwide
membership
November CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) Committee formed
with worldwide membership
1990 June Discontinuation of all use of CFC foaming agents
1991 June Commercialization of an ozone-safe air-conditioning system
December Nissan is the sole automaker to be presented with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's Stratospheric Ozone
Protection Award for introduction of vehicles with ozone-
safe air conditioning systems
1992 February Bumper recycling program begun in Europe and Japan
April Discontinuation of all CFCs in washing agents
May Electric Vehicle Committee established with worldwide
membership
1993 February Environmental Management Committee established in Japan
October Nissan presented with Chairman's Award by the Recycling
Promotion Council recognizing Nissan's bumper recycling
programs
December Cedric EV goes on sale in Japan
1994 May Commercialization of lean-burn engines
April Nissan received third Global Environmental Award by the
World Wide Fund for Nature Japan recognizing Nissan's
manufacturing plants' reduction and recycling of waste
into reusable resources
July Commercialization of non-CFC air conditioning retrofit
kits
1995 March Discontinuation of all use of trichloroethane
June Establishment of worldwide Environmental Network Meeting
1996 May Recycling Promotion Department established
1997 February Launch of Prairie Joy EV in Japan
September Only automaker to receive the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's "Best of the Best" award for efforts
to protect the stratospheric ozone layer
1998 January The Nissan Altra EV, the only electric vehicle with
lithium-ion batteries, is introduced.
June Commercialization of a direct-injection diesel engine
(NEO Di)
September Commercialization of a direct-injection gasoline engine
mated with HYPER CVT
1999 March Obtain ISO 14001 certification for product planning and
development process
April Hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle demonstration fleet
begins in Japan
May Fuel-cell vehicle demonstration fleet begins in Japan
September Only automaker to receive the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's 1999 Climate Protection award for its
leadership in global warming, HFC reduction and fuel
economy improvements
November California Air Resources Board certified the 1.8-liter
gasoline-fueled 2000 model year Sentra as the first Super
Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle.