Dec. 22, 2022

Toyota Joins the Japanese Towns of Okuma, Futaba, and Namie in Carbon Neutrality PartnershipAiming to achieve circular agriculture across dairy and feed crop farming to promote reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake

Okuma
Futaba
Namie
Toyota Motor Corporation

Okuma, Futaba, Namie, and Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) today entered a Carbon Neutrality Partnership Agreement.

The three towns of Okuma, Futaba, and Namie are located in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture. Following the partial lifting of evacuation orders due to the Great East Japan earthquake and other factors, reconstruction efforts are expected to accelerate. The hope is that focusing on carbon neutrality will improve sustainability for the region. Toyota is also implementing initiatives in collaboration with a host of partners to contribute to reconstruction in Fukushima Prefecture. It has entered into this partnership in hopes of utilizing the results of its research and development in the agricultural field to contribute to carbon neutrality and reconstruction in the three towns.

The following table details the actions of each party under this agreement.

Okuma Futaba	Recover soil fertility through crop cultivation, starting from the mid-2020s, using agricultural land that has been unusable since the Great East Japan Earthquake Create a low-carbon circular agriculture system using crops grown on this land to feed cows at a reconstruction farm in Namie Town
Namie	Provide part of the fertilizer for agricultural land in Okuma Town and Futaba Town from the manure of cows at a reconstruction farm expected to begin operations in FY2026
Toyota	Provide knowledge acquired through years of research and development in Namie Town and other areas, including measurement and analysis of soil composition data, and using drones to monitor crop growth on agricultural land in Okuma Town and Futaba Town

In the future, the aim is also to collaborate with the Research Association of Biomass Innovation for Next Generation Automobile Fuels, which is a collaboration of six private companies, including Toyota, that is researching efficient systems for ethanol production in Okuma. One possibility under study is using crops grown on agricultural land in Okuma and Futaba as raw materials for bioethanol fuel production.

Okuma, Futaba, Namie, and Toyota will continue to deepen their collaboration to drive reconstruction after the earthquake in the future. This partnership will make positive contributions to achieving carbon neutrality by reducing transportation-related CO2 emissions through low-carbon circular agriculture coupled with local consumption of local produce in terms of fertilizer and livestock feed.

"Achieving zero, and adding new value beyond it"

As part of efforts to pass our beautiful "Home Planet" to the next generation, Toyota has identified and is helping to solve issues faced by individuals and overall society, which Toyota calls "Achieving Zero," hoping to help reduce the negative impacts caused by these issues to people and the environment to zero. Additionally, Toyota is also looking "Beyond Zero" to create and provide greater value by continuing to diligently seek ways to improve lives and society for the future.

About Beyond Zero: https://global.toyota/en/mobility/beyond-zero/

Toyota Motor Corporation works to develop and manufacture innovative, safe and high-quality products and services that create happiness by providing mobility for all. We believe that true achievement comes from supporting our customers, partners, employees, and the communities in which we operate. Since our founding over 80 years ago in 1937, we have applied our Guiding Principles in pursuit of a safer, greener and more inclusive society. Today, as we transform into a mobility company developing connected, automated, shared and electrified technologies, we also remain true to our Guiding Principles and many of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals to help realize an ever-better world, where everyone is free to move.