WHC and SP Receive EPA Award to Promote Pollution Prevention in Southeastern U.S. Auto Industry
SILVER SPRING, MD, OCTOBER 18, 2021 – Corporate conservation organization Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) and automotive industry environmental sustainability association Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) will receive $68,000 in funding from the EPA Region 4 Source Reduction Assistance (SRA) Grant Program, an initiative that supports pollution prevention (P2) efforts in the American Southeast. The award will be used to explore and promote nature-based solutions (NbS) that address pollution prevention within the region’s automotive industry and across the supply chain.
The SRA grant will allow WHC and SP to expand on their longtime collaboration, which was formalized through a memorandum of understanding in October 2018. Together, the two organizations have already made strides in addressing global environmental challenges, with WHC providing technical support to the SP Biodiversity Work Group Pollinator Challenge which, as of 2019, has resulted in SP members collectively managing over 2,400 acres of pollinator habitat on their corporate lands.
With the SRA funding comes a new opportunity for WHC and SP to engage collaborating automotive companies with a presence in Region 4, such as Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Lear Corporation, Toyota Motor North America and others, through a series of P2-oriented workshops.
“Calls to address both pollution and biodiversity loss are quickly increasing,” says Sara Cook, Senior Manager, Conservation Strategies, WHC. “This award represents a chance for our organizations to explore and implement solutions that will speak to both challenges, using our respective experiences and professional networks to scale up impact across the nation and beyond.”
WHC and SP’s efforts will be implemented over the course of a two-year period, with the first workshops to be developed in early 2022. Workshop attendees will work to identify methods and opportunities for the automotive sector to reduce pollution by implementing NbS and will learn about the co-benefits of nature-based P2 work.
Kellen Mahoney, Program Director of SP says, “these workshops will empower automotive manufacturers, and their suppliers, to drive industry-wide change while also working toward company and facility-level sustainability goals.” The work done during the grant period will ultimately result in the development of key P2-related metrics and performance areas and the characterization of the P2 potential of lands managed by the automotive industry.
About SP
The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) is an association of automakers and their suppliers working in collaboration with the US EPA and other governmental entities toward a shared vision of an automotive industry with positive environmental impact. To learn more, visit www.supplierspartnership.org
About WHC
Wildlife Habitat Council partners with corporations, their employees, fellow conservation organizations, government agencies and community members to recognize and encourage wildlife habitat projects for conservation, education, and recreation. To learn more, visit www.wildlifehc.org
For More Information
Sara Cook | Wildlife Habitat Council | 480.621.9055
Kellen Mahoney | Suppliers Partnership for the Environment | 202.530.0096
