GAT January Meeting Recap!

On January 21st, our Green Action Team met to review plans for 2025 and the 2025 Sustainability Audit. Our plan for the year includes four different focus areas, one per quarter: the Sustainability Audit in the first quarter, Earth Day in the second quarter, EV Boot Camp and Drive Electric Week in the third quarter, and National Recycling Day in the fourth quarter.

The 2025 Sustainability Audit has many of the same questions as last year’s audit but asks for additional information. It starts with the top seven sustainability priorities which include: switching to 100% LED lighting, using thermostat timers to turn off HVAC while buildings are empty, having an EV Ambassador at each dealership, having TV monitors at each dealership to share CMA sustainability efforts, using 100% recycled copy paper, using sustainable plates, cups, water containers, and flatware, and recycling everything from cardboard to aluminum to toner cartridges and wood pallets. We reviewed these top seven goals as well as the additional goals for the sustainability audit. Audits should be completed by Green Action Team leaders by Friday, January 31st.

The audit’s information will help CMA focus on the areas that need attention. We are close to achieving 100% on many of these goals, such as having EV Ambassadors and TV monitors in each dealership, purchasing 100% recycled paper, and recycling cardboard, aluminum, and oil filters. The audit’s information can help us identify hurdles and devise the best ways to overcome them. 

“Does your dealership have 100% LED lights?” asked Judi, using the first audit question as an example. “If yes, then great. If no, then we need to know why.”

“We want to make sure that we don’t hit any roadblocks,” said Liza, ”One of the goals for the next sixty days after we complete the audit is for Mike to come to the different Markets and meet with Green Team Members and General Managers, or Executive Managers, and prioritize the things we want to move forward on sustainability. We want to make sure that we’re making good decisions – good business decisions that are also right for our sustainability initiatives.”

Mike will schedule meetings with our General Managers and Green Action Team members for February and March. The goal is to review the sustainability audit in each market and help develop simple solutions!