BMW recently announced that the salary of their board of directors will partly be determined by how successful they are in meeting the company’s climate goals. Starting in 2021, BMW wants to create and publish comprehensive finance, business development and sustainability reports. According to the chairman of the board of managers Oliver Zipse, this move “sends a clear signal that [BMW] consider[s] [their] business model and sustainability to be inseparable.”

Their goal is to be open and provide measures against which their progress can be tracked. Furthermore, the company has made clear that their plan and goals are concrete and detailed so it will be clear whether or not they are being met.

This move, although certainly revolutionary, is far from a surprise coming from a company like BMW. BMW has made clear that it wants to be a leader in sustainability and has certainly made strides towards earning this title. Among other efforts, for example, they have consistently set sustainability standards for themselves over the last few decades. It will be interesting to see if rival car companies follow suit with greater transparency and accountability in meeting sustainability standards.