Ranking
13 of 18
Comparison
(14) in 2023
% EV Sales
8%*
Total Score
Total Score
Fossil Free & Environment
Human Rights
* EV-Volumes OEM Share tracker. All figures are cumulative annual values for the year 2023. The data covers passenger vehicles only and includes Europe, China, Korea, Japan, the United States and Canada.
Share
Array
Summary
Kia was one of the lowest performing automakers in the first edition of the Leaderboard and achieved a score increase of a meager 2% in 2023, meaning that Kia remains near the bottom of the ranking in the 2024 edition of the Leaderboard. Kia continues to have weak scores across the board, receiving a 0% score in two categories (fossil free and environmentally responsible aluminum, and Indigenous Peoples’ rights) and achieving scores of less than 10% across the indicators on steel, batteries and responsible sourcing of transition minerals.
Key Findings
- Has a 2045 carbon neutrality declaration and interim targets, with preparations to join the Science-based Targets Initiative.
- Now discloses scope 3 emissions for purchased goods and services.
- Has a battery closed loop system for extracting raw materials.
- Includes little detail on its steel, aluminum and battery decarbonization efforts - scoring less than 10% across all these categories.
- Has made commitments to human rights, workers’ rights, and responsible sourcing of transition minerals, but provides few details on the measures taken to realize these commitments. However, does provide more detail this year on its system for evaluating human rights risks at individual suppliers.
Score Breakdown
Fossil-Free & Environmentally Sustainable Supply Chains
* InfluenceMap scores were applied as a multiplier to the total Fossil-free & Environmentally Sustainable Supply Chains score. See methodology for further details.
Human Rights & Responsible Resourcing
Supply Chain News & Progress
Latest on Kia
Supply chain transformation is a risk management imperative and opportunity for a competitive edge. Leading brands are already securing a first-mover advantage and leveraging their power to transform legacy supply chains into a force for good. The revolution is underway.
Hyundai sued by Department of Labor over use of child labor and faces new prison labor allegations
Hyundai Motor Company, together with an auto parts plant and a labor recruiter, have been sued by the U.S. Department of Labor over the illegal use of child labor in Alabama. Reuters reported in 2022 that children, some as young as 12, worked for a Hyundai subsidiary and in other parts suppliers for the company in the Southern state.
A report by Bloomberg published the same month also names a supplier of Hyundai Motor Company as profiting from the forced labor of incarcerated workers in the U.S.
Hyundai Steel produces low-carbon, high-strength steel plates
Hyundai Steel says it has become the first steelmaker globally to produce high-strength steel plates by using an electric arc furnace, which helps reduce carbon emissions drastically during the whole process… part of the company’s carbon neutrality initiative, dubbed “Hy-Cube,” with a goal of switching completely to hydrogen-based steel production by 2030.
Pollution, child labour, workers’ rights violations and new coal-fired power plants in Hyundai-Kia’s supply chains
According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Hyundai-Kia’s supply chains have been linked to child labour and workers’ rights violations. Reports also implicate Hyundai-Kia’s supply chains with air pollution and premature deaths in South Korea and environmental contamination in Indonesia.
Hyundai Motor Company also signed an MoU to purchase aluminium from Adaro in Indonesia, which would be powered by new coal-fired power plants.
Our Vision
The future is an automotive industry where all vehicles are made:
01 — Equitably
Respecting and advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples, workers, and local communities throughout the supply chain.
02 — Sustainably
Preserving and restoring environmental health and biodiversity across supply chains, while reducing primary resource demand through efficient resource use and increased recycled content.
03 — Fossil-free
100% electric and made with a fossil fuel-free supply chain.