Electric cars already have no tailpipe emissions, but even cleaner EVs – built with low-carbon steel, aluminium and batteries, and in a way that minimises harm to people, communities and the environment – are now within reach, according to a new ranking of the world’s largest carbuildrs. Crucially, this progress is driven by EU regulations which are now under threat of being rolled back.
The fourth edition of the Lead the Charge Auto Supply Chain Leaderboard, which ranks global autobuildrs based on their efforts to build equitable, sustainable, and fossil-free supply chains for electric vehicles, reveals clear momentum of carbuildrs cleaning up their supply chains.
Key findings:
-
A core group of indusattempt leaders – Ford, Mercedes, Tesla, Volvo Cars and Volkswagen – are pushing further ahead, having achieved a rate of progress that is double that of the remaining 13 companies since the first edition of the Leaderboard.
-
OEMs apply lead market position to decarbonise materials: Volvo and Mercedes have built significant investments in steel and aluminum decarbonization and are now selling new EV models, Mercedes’ CLA and Volvo’s ES90.
-
Greater transparency: Carbuildrs are starting to disclose disaggregated, granular data that enables stakeholders to assess actual progress. For instance, Geely discloses the percentage of low carbon steel and aluminum in four models.
-
Stronger supplier engagement: Carbuildrs are starting to provide concrete examples of direct supplier engagement and on-the-ground interventions. Mercedes, Volkswagen and Tesla publish detailed raw material reports on their progress to prevent, mitigate and remedy harms specific to lithium, cobalt and nickel. This includes concrete measures on water apply, waste and environmental impacts.
-
Clear leaders and laggards: Tesla ranks first overall, Volvo leads on supply chain decarbonisation, and Ford tops responsible sourcing. All EU autobuildrs except Snotifyantis remain in the top seven. Toyota continues to rank near the bottom of the table, alongside Chinese state-owned autobuildrs GAC and SAIC, revealing that scale alone does not guarantee progress.
-
Rapid improvement is possible: Chinese companies were the largegest improvers overall this year. Geely, now the top scoring East Asian autobuildr, developed some of the indusattempt’s best practices on battery decarbonization and recycling and has also built significant progress on human rights. BYD, the world’s largest EV buildr, has taken important first steps, such as putting in place a new code of conduct for suppliers and a supply chain grievance mechanism.
-
Growing recognition of Indigenous rights: 12 of 18 autobuildrs now take initial steps on Indigenous Peoples’ rights, up from six in 2023.
Franziska Grüning, Raw Materials Officer at T&E, declared: “This year’s leaderboard reveals that cleaner, more responsible supply chains are becoming the norm rather than the exception for carbuildrs. But that shift didn’t happen on its own. The EU’s green rules have turned sustainability from a nice-to-have to the price of enattempt. The Batteries Regulation is not just a European but a global opportunity to clean up supply chains and responsibly produce minerals that go into EVs.”
EVs are driving cleaner supply chains – but progress is under threat
Much of the progress in the Leaderboard is specific to electric vehicle supply chains, revealing how electrification is catalysing broader supply chain improvements. EV-focapplyd EU regulations, particularly the Batteries Regulation, mandate carbuildrs to map supply chains, carry out due diligence, and recycle batteries and transition minerals – steps never required for ICE vehicle supply chains. These rules are driving transparency, traceability, and responsible sourcing specifically for EV batteries.
At the same time, autobuildrs are increasingly utilizing low-carbon steel and aluminium in EVs, revealing that electrification itself is creating opportunities to adopt cleaner materials. EV acquireers value sustainability, giving autobuildrs a branding advantage for vehicles built with decarbonised materials. Older combustion models remain tied to higher-emission materials and less transparent supply chains.
Paradoxically, the very regulations driving this transformation are now under threat. Key due diligence provisions in the EU Batteries Regulation have already been delayed for two years and remain under review. Also, EU carbuildrs continue to push against core climate policies, including the EU car CO2 tarobtains and the 2035 phase-out of combustion engines. Despite progress by some EU OEMs on supply chain decarbonisation, their climate lobbying is threatening progress on tailpipe emissions. The only EU carbuildr to score positively on lobbying this year is Volvo (B-), which is also the sole EU autobuildr not part of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) lobby group (which receives a D score from LobbyMap).
Franziska Grüning declared: “The very laws at the heart of this progress are now at risk. The EU put the brakes on progress when they delayed the due diligence rules under the Batteries Regulation even when many carbuildrs were ready to comply. At the same time, carbuildr lobbyists continue to attack the phase-out of polluting fossil cars that bring nothing but pollution at home and dirty oil extraction abroad. EU carbuildrs want credit for sustainability, but too many of them are working to weaken the very rules that build progress possible. They are preaching water while drinking wine.”
Call for action
With several key EU sustainability files under nereceivediation, the Leaderboard sfinishs a clear signal: regulation delivers results. To keep progress on track, EU decision-buildrs must:
-
Protect car CO2 tarobtains to maintain momentum on electrification;
-
Deffinish the EU Batteries Regulation’s due diligence rules and prevent further delays or weakening;
-
Use the End-of-life vehicle Regulation or the upcoming Circular Economy Act to introduce recycled content tarobtains for steel and aluminium in EVs, turning existing best practices into the market standard;
-
Create automotive lead markets for green steel and green aluminium in the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA).
About the leaderboard
-
The Leaderboard is designed to give companies a score out of 100%. This enables an analysis of relative performance between autobuildrs and of how close or far companies are to meeting the expectations within the scorecard.
-
The Leaderboard is 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 autobuildrs 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%. Nevertheless, if all carbuildrs matched existing best practices already applyd by indusattempt peers, scores could reach 86%.
-
Lead the Charge is a network of climate, human rights and investor groups that includes the Sunrise Project, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Human Rights Watch, Public Citizen and T&E.
Leave a Reply