Partners

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Toyota Motor Sales, USA has partnered with the Institute of International Education and the Bren School of Environmental Science and Managementin order to provide an outstanding experience for U.S. educators. IIE administers the day to day programming on behalf of Toyota and the Bren School provides environmental expertise as well as a study leader for the programs to guide discussion and enhance the educational aspect of the program for participants. IIE was founded in 1919 and is the most experienced and largest international education and exchange organization in the United States. IIE administers over 200 programs serving more than 20,000 individuals each year. IIE is a private, not-for-profit organization committed to leadership development and services for the education, cultural and corporate sectors.

IIE’s mission focuses on promoting closer educational relations between the people of the United States and those of other countries, strengthening and linking institutions of higher learning globally, rescuing threatened scholars and advancing academic freedom; and building leadership skills and enhancing the capacity of individuals and organizations to address local and global challenges.

Over the course of the last seven years, Toyota has developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the Bren School as a corporate partner. This relationship has resulted in shared research, knowledge, and experience in the areas of climate change, and interdisciplinary environmental problem solving. Since 2001 the Bren School has placed 14 student interns with Toyota Motor Sales and, in 2003, Toyota hired two Bren graduates as full-time employees. In 2007, Toyota Motor Sales became a Bren School Group Project client benefiting from a year-long study on informing packaging design decisions at Toyota Motor Sales. Additionally, Bren School faculty, staff and students play an important role in bringing intellectual depth and scientific rigor to Toyota’s evolving Toyota International Teacher Program.

The Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, now rated among the top three such programs in the United States, is emerging as the preeminent institution for the research and training of solution-centered professionals through a comprehensive, balanced, interdisciplinary, approach to environmental science and management. The curriculum and research combine environmental science, policy, economics, management and law. Since January 2006 the Bren School has been lead by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, one of the world’s most eminent thinkers on international climate policy. Foremost among the research agendas of the faculty are the mitigation, adaptation and impacts of climate change on ecosystems, human welfare and economic vitality.

Toyota, now considered to be the world’s largest automotive industry leader, is also viewed as an environmental leader. “Cleaner and Greener” has become Toyota’s commitment to the environment. Toyota does more than meet industry standards—it seeks to raise new standards that improve the quality of the environment, by addressing reduced emissions, increased mileage performance, use of alternative fuels and the use of recycled and recyclable materials in its products. With an unwavering commitment to environmental protection, Toyota strives to create clean and efficient products, and to conserve resources throughout the manufacturing process. It seeks to advance environmental education through its Toyota International Teacher Program (TITP).

As the impacts of global climate change are in greater evidence the need for innovative strategies, technologies and techniques for its mitigation and adaptation, grows. Recognizing that the automotive industry is among the world’s largest economic sectors, and that Toyota Motor Sales, the industry leader, seeks to reach consumers and business in every country, it is apparent that addressing climate impacts should become central to Toyota’s business strategy. The Bren School’s prominent international leadership, and its high caliber interdisciplinary research and teaching in areas including climate impacts, policy, energy efficiency, materials, toxicology, waste-stream management, eco-technology and best practices, uniquely qualifies the Bren School as a partner for Toyota in training environmental science and management professionals that can take on leadership positions within Toyota and in other business sectors in the development of innovative technologies, policies and techniques for addressing climate change.