Our consumer guide shows which EVs are truly clean and green
Automakers are taking very different approaches to the EV transition. Some are investing in battery circularity, supporting clean steel, and strengthening human rights across their supply chains. Others are lobbying against electrification and ignoring forced labour risks. See below to find out which companies are driving a clean and just EV transition.
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Our Leaderboard focuses specifically on automakers' performance on improving sustainability and human rights practices in supply chains - and in this area, Tesla is a leader. Tesla remains the top performing automaker of the Leaderboard for the second year running, widening its lead from less than one percentage point ahead of Ford in 2025 to over four percentage points in 2026.
Environment
Tesla is the only automaker to disclose all the emissions from the mine to the end consumer related to its steel, aluminum and battery supply chains, setting a new best-practice standard. The company also signed a new agreement to buy low-carbon aluminium, but continues to lag behind on steel decarbonization.
Human Rights
Although Tesla has a terrible record on labor rights for its own operations, the company is the only one to provide concrete examples of remedy provided for violations of the rights of supply chain workers. Tesla is also a leader on responsible mineral sourcing and supply chain transparency.
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Ford scores second highest in our ranking of automaker efforts to create clean and just supply chains - second only to Tesla in our Leaderboard. However, the rate of their progress slowed this year, leaving them in danger of falling behind. If you're a Ford loyalist, let them know they need to accelerate their efforts.
Environment
Ford is our third-highest scoring automaker on climate and the environment. This year the company started to provide consumers with data on the climate-altering emissions from the batteries used in specific EV models and took steps to mitigate the environmental impacts of its lithium and nickel supply chains.
Human Rights
Ford is a leader on human rights, demonstrating some of the industry's best practices to ensure suppliers respect the rights of workers, local communities and Indigenous Peoples. However, the company actually performed worse on responsible mineral sourcing this year.
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Volvo has climbed steadily up our rankings to its current position of #3. The company's improvements have been steady, but could stand to take stronger steps on respecting Indigenous Peoples rights.
Environment
Volvo leads on climate transparency and is the only automaker that discloses emissions from the steel, aluminum, and batteries used in individual EV models. Its overall environmental score is more than double the industry average.
Human Rights
Volvo introduced battery "passports" that show where key minerals come from and took initial steps to require suppliers to respect Indigenous Peoples' consent. Still, further progress is needed to strengthen protections across its supply chain.
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Mercedes remains one of the top-performing automakers overall, particularly on using low-carbon materials and battery recycling. However, its performance slipped this year due to reduced transparency.
Environment
Mercedes is among the top three performers on reducing emissions from their steel supply chain, and the company also opened a highly efficient battery recycling plant. Yet the company stopped publicly sharing some key sustainability data, making it harder to track its progress.
Human Rights
Mercedes is the top performer in our Leaderboard on workers' rights, demonstrating some of the industry's best practices on including workers in human rights protections processes. The company ranks second on respecting Indigenous People's rights, but still only scores 25% in this area- showing that the company (and the industry itself) has a long way to go toward ensuring their rights are respected across the supply chain.
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Volkswagen remains a strong performer, improving its score on the majority of issue areas we measure. The company provides some of the most comprehensive information out of all 18 automakers about its efforts to protect human rights and the environment through the company's detailed Responsible Raw Materials Report.
Environment
Volkswagen is a leader on managing deforestation risks, applying binding sustainability requirements for new contracts across both leather and rubber. The company has also made notable progress in aluminum decarbonization - but progress on steel has stagnated.
Human Rights
Volkswagen has improved its human rights performance for two consecutive years. It strengthened its commitment to respecting Indigenous Peoples' right to give or withhold consent for mining projects owned by its suppliers.
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Despite what you'd expect from this luxury brand, BMW isn't exactly leading the charge, placing sixth overall in our Leaderboard in 2025 as well as 2026. If you're looking for a European EV from a company that performs better on just and sustainable supply chain practices, Mercedes and Volvo both score higher in our assessment.
Environment
BMW leads on preventing deforestation in its supply chain. However, it has made only small improvements in reducing pollution from steel and aluminum production. It also scored zero on battery reuse and repurposing, showing little progress toward a more circular EV economy.
Human Rights
BMW did not improve on respecting Indigenous Peoples' rights this year and lost ground on responsible mineral sourcing. This caused it to drop in the human rights ranking. However, it is one of only three automakers that requires suppliers to pay a living wage.
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If Renault keeps improving its supply chain practices at the rate it did this year, it could soon displace some of its competitors in the leading positions. Together with Geely and BYD, Renault improved its score the most of any automaker this year, moving from 8th to 7th in our ranking.
Environment
Renault has set clear 2030 targets to recycle 80% of key battery minerals and cut battery emissions by up to 35%. It is also the only automaker to have signed agreements to buy lower-carbon cobalt, nickel, and lithium for its batteries.
Human Rights
Renault improved more than any other automaker on human rights this year. Even so, its overall score remains modest, and the company could strengthen its approach by better assessing risks of abuse linked to specific raw materials.
Total
Geely is now the top-scoring East Asian automaker on clean and just supply chains, beating out US and EU-based GM and Stellantis by a large margin. Geely has been making very fast progress on cleaner supply chains, achieving one of the largest score increases in this year's Leaderboard.
Environment
Geely is one of the few companies that tells customers how much low-carbon steel and aluminum are used in certain EV models. This year, Geely was one of the top performers on battery recycling and introduced new supplier rules on deforestation and responsible sourcing of raw materials.
Human Rights
Geely offers more transparency on human rights than peer companies, and is one of only four automakers to consult with suppliers' employees and worker representatives on human rights issues. But Geely's total score on human rights remains low, leaving room for continued improvement.
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Hyundai is the second-highest performing East Asian automaker in the Leaderboard, just behind Geely. A major area of concern is their lack of progress on steel decarbonization, particularly disappointing as Hyundai is the only automaker which owns a steelmaking company.
Environment
Hyundai made progress this year by investing in new programs on battery circularity. The company also dropped a goal to reduce its supply chain emissions and still hasn't made substantive progress on decarbonizing the steel used in its supply chain.
Human Rights
Hyundai took an important first step by committing to respect Indigenous Peoples' right to give or withhold consent for mining projects linked to its suppliers. Still, it does not fully require suppliers to respect all internationally recognized human rights.
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Unlike previous years, GM failed to publish a sustainability report in 2025. This represented a huge step backward on transparency and accountability to consumers, and caused the company to slide down the rankings from 7th to 10th, overtaken by Hyundai and Geely. On human rights, GM is now the worst performing automaker in the EU and US.
Environment
This year GM published a new Responsible Materials Policy, which details new goals, strategies and supplier requirements to mitigate environmental impacts tied to critical minerals, rubber and leather, and also to eliminate deforestation and protect biodiversity.
Human Rights
In 2025 GM continued to perform poorly on respecting Indigenous Peoples' rights and workers' rights in the supply chain. Despite having public commitments in these areas, GM has failed to disclose tangible evidence of how these commitments are being enforced in practice.
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Kia is on the move to clean up its supply chains. For the second year running, Kia made the second highest amount of overall progress in the Leaderboard, jointly with Volkswagen, Tesla, and Volvo. However, sitting in 11th place in the ranking, the company has lots of room to improve.
Environment
This year Kia improved its requirements on emissions reduction for suppliers and improved transparency on its efforts to prevent deforestation and water pollution. However, it made little meaningful progress on reducing pollution from steel, aluminum, and battery production.
Human Rights
Compared to other automakers, Kia's improvements on improving their human rights policies were miniscule. The company still does not require its suppliers to respect all human rights, and lacks a system for workers and communities to safely report abuses in its supply chain.
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Stellantis lost more points in the 2025 Leaderboard than any other automaker. Following a poor performance last year, the company continues in a downward spiral: it has now become the worst performing company among European and US automakers, and has also been overtaken by Hyundai, Kia and Geely.
Environment
Stellantis is a notably poor performer on reducing emissions from its steel and aluminum supply chains, scoring 25% lower than its European counterparts. This year it also reduced transparency around its use of recycled steel, raising concerns about accountability.
Human Rights
Stellantis is one of only two companies in the Leaderboard to commit to a living wage and to explain how it calculates the living wage. It is also, however, one of only four companies to not have a standalone responsible minerals policy, leaving gaps in how it addresses risks of human rights abuses in its supply chain.
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Nissan's score would have shot up this year, except that the company lost 10 points because the emissions of the 'green steel' in the company's supply chain were calculated using problematic mass balance methodologies. This supposedly 'green' steel was produced in a coal-fired blast furnace.
Environment
This year Nissan joined the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, creating more specific requirements for suppliers to set science-based CO2 reduction targets and manage deforestation risks, and took initial steps to mitigate environmental impacts of mining for battery minerals.
Human Rights
Nissan moved from 15th to 14th place in the human rights Leaderboard. Despite these improvements, Nissan's overall human rights score is just 17%, in part because it has taken no action to improve protections for Indigenous Peoples and continues to lack strong safeguards to prevent abuses in its supply chain.
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BYD made a lot of progress in cleaning up their supply chains this year - more than almost any other automaker. However, it still lags behind most Asian competitors and is held back by weak supply chain sustainability practices overall.
Environment
BYD introduced stronger supplier rules on cutting emissions, managing water use, and preventing deforestation. However, it has not made progress on buying lower-carbon steel or aluminum and does not require suppliers to reduce pollution from mining battery minerals.
Human Rights
BYD improved its human rights policies, introducing a new supplier code requiring respect for basic worker rights and banning recruitment fees. Despite this step forward, its overall human rights score remains low compared to most competitors.
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Honda has always sat near the bottom of our rankings of the world's largest automakers, and 2025 was no different. Rather than building on the limited progress the company has made, Honda is shirking its responsibility to address adverse human rights and environmental impacts in its supply chain.
Environment
Honda reported the total emissions from its supply chain, which improved its transparency score. However, it has made little real progress in reducing pollution linked to steel, aluminum, and battery production used in its vehicles.
Human Rights
Honda has yet to take some basic steps to ensure suppliers respect workers' rights and Indigenous Peoples' rights. The company shows minimal evidence of meaningful action to prevent human rights abuses in its supply chain.
Total
Toyota consistently one of the Leaderboard's weakest performers, and this year is no exception. The company dropped from 14th to 16th place this year - the largest year-over-year decline in this Leaderboard.
Environment
In 2025, Toyota pledged to eliminate most of the emissions connected to its cars by 2050, and to make meaningful cuts of emissions from its supply chain by 2030. Despite these commitments, it still scores zero on reducing emissions from the steel and aluminum used in its vehicles.
Human Rights
Toyota has made no meaningful progress on protecting Indigenous Peoples' rights and shows little improvement on workers' rights. It also disclosed less information this year about risks to workers' rights in its supply chain.
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GAC remains near the bottom of the 2026 Leaderboard, showing little meaningful progress on building clean and just supply chains. The company continues to lag on both environmental and human rights performance, with minimal improvement year over year. Without significant new action, GAC risks falling further behind as peers accelerate supply chain reforms.
Environment
GAC is still failing on the basics of supply chain decarbonization. It has not demonstrated credible progress on reducing emissions from steel, aluminum, or battery production, and shows limited transparency on implementation. Compared to industry leaders, its performance in the climate and environment section remains extremely low.
Human Rights
GAC ranks second to last across all human rights subsections. The company provides little evidence of meaningful due diligence beyond generic commitments, and lacks strong systems to prevent, mitigate, and remedy abuses in its supply chain. It also continues to perform poorly on respecting Indigenous Peoples' rights and protecting workers.
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SAIC sits at the very bottom of the 2026 Leaderboard. Despite being one of the world's largest automakers, the company shows almost no evidence of substantive progress toward fossil-free, sustainable, and rights-respecting supply chains. SAIC remains significantly behind its global competitors.
Environment
SAIC's performance in the fossil-free and environmentally sustainable section is the weakest of all companies assessed. The company has not demonstrated credible action on decarbonizing steel or aluminum, advancing battery circularity, or strengthening supply chain transparency. Basic implementation measures remain largely absent.
Human Rights
SAIC ranks last across the human rights section. It provides minimal disclosure of supply chain due diligence and lacks evidence of meaningful action to address risks to workers, Indigenous Peoples, or communities affected by mineral extraction. Compared to emerging best practices across the industry, SAIC's approach remains highly underdeveloped.