Hyundai Motor and its affiliate firm Kia were ranked in ninth place on a new Greenpeace study on 15 automakers' decarbonization efforts, down four spots from the environmental organization's assessment a year ago.

According to Greenpeace East Asia’s analysis on Thursday, the South Korean carmakers received 5.58 points for the proportion of zero-emission vehicle sales and a mere 3 points for decarbonizing efforts in their supply chains.

Noting that the sales of sports utility vehicles by Hyundai Motor and Kia accounted for more than half of their total sales, Greenpeace pointed out that SUVs have more carbon emissions as they use more steel and offer less fuel efficiency. The group also underlined that the Korean carmakers’ slow sales of EVs in the past five years compared to other automakers do not seem to be in line with their goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.

“Hyundai Motor and Kia, who say that they are leading the EV transformation, have been ranked in the middle based on the eco-friendliness assessment over the past three years,” said Hong Hye-ran, a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia.

“It is difficult to not only respond to the climate crisis, but also become the first leader of the future car industry with a management strategy that focuses on internal combustion engine vehicles and SUVs. Hyundai Motor and Kia need to stop selling internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030 and make efforts to decarbonize their supply chains.”

Mercedes-Benz ranked first on the eco-friendliness list of 15 carmakers across the world. Despite being in first place, the German automaker only received 41.1 points out of a perfect score of 100.

“Massive auto manufacturers such as Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor and Kia are not rapidly cutting down their carbon emissions,” said Ada Kong, deputy program director at Greenpeace East Asia.

“Although the sales of electric vehicles are growing quickly, 94 percent of the sold cars by the world’s top 15 automakers were still powered by fossil fuel in 2022.”