Yamaha is looking to improve its sustainability outlook, and the result of that is a new sustainability fund that will invest into companies which are having a positive impact on the environment.
Officially, the fund is called the Yamaha Motor Sustainability Fund, and will invest “in companies working to address problems concerning the environment,” according to a Yamaha press release.
The aim of the Sustainability Fund is to combine carbon offsetting with an actual reduction in the carbon footprint of Yamaha’s existing businesses.
In total, the Fund has $100 million of investment value, and will be run for 15 years.
“Through this fun, Yamaha intends to foster collaborative relationships with the numerous companies striving to solve environmental issues and to contribute as a like-minded partner toward creating a better world while mutually enhancing each company’s own pursuits,” Yamaha says.
Yamaha says it “is exploring new technologies and business models that contribute to sustainability in order to accelerate the carbon offsetting efforts necessary to achieve its carbon neutrality goals.”
Of course, it is important to consider that carbon offsetting is not actually overall a progressive thing for the environment. Carbon offsetting is simply a way for a business or nation state to say “look, we are carbon neutral,” while still producing carbon. Theoretically, carbon offsetting only maintains the atmospheric carbon level, rather than actually improving it. But this is only true on an individual basis, not on an overall scale. It only really works if every single person commits to it, but of course that is not - and sort of cannot be - the reality.
The more important thing here is the commitment of Yamaha to reduce its own carbon and environmental impact. Of course, on a surface level, it has already taken steps to do this, with the release of the NEO’s and E01 electric scooters, and with its investment of resources into hydrogen fuels. It seems that this fund is aimed at taking Yamaha’s sustainability initiatives deeper, into its production systems, and the things involved in creating the end products, like the NEO’s and E01, but also like the YZ450F or YZF-R1.
