The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP), a trade association that was created in 2002, is a collaborative initiative among automobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, their suppliers, and the U.S. EPA. SP addresses the goals of the membership by creating new and innovative business-centered approaches to environmental protection that improve the environment while providing value throughout the automobile supply chain. GEMI members that participate in SP include Ashland Inc., Johnson Controls, Inc., and Motorola, Inc.

SP provides value to its members by providing a forum for small, mid-sized and large automotive and vehicle suppliers to work together, learn from each other and share environmental best practices through task forces and work groups to address specific issues, provide facility-specific technical assistance workshops, identify and address externally driven environmental impacts, and retain the costs savings realized through SP activities. SP is a "member-driven" activity that provides quantifiable value to members, and several Work Groups have been organized to address issues that the members consider important. Current Work Groups include:

• Design for the Environment (DfE)
• Environmental Performance Metrics
• Energy Use Optimization
• SP Technical Assistance Workshops.

Additional information is available at http://www.supplierspartnership.org