To reduce CO₂ emissions volume, efforts were not restricted to fuel efficiency improvement through initiatives in automobile product development, but extended also to measures against global warming through energy conservation in areas from the Production & Logistics Group to the sales sector. This series of initiatives was based on the 1992 Toyota Earth Charter and was promoted alongside the setting of goals and repeated evaluation and testing under the Toyota Environmental Action Plan introduced in fiscal 1993 (ended June 1994) as a formula to be expanded and developed in the medium term.

Regarding fuel efficiency improvement, the first phase of the Toyota Environmental Action Plan covering fiscal 1993-95 (ended June 1994, June 1995 and March 1996) and the second phase covering fiscal 1996-2000 (ended March 1997-2001) set the target of achieving world-leading levels of fuel efficiency. At the time, Japan had set fuel efficiency standards that required an improvement averaged across all manufacturers of 8.5 percent compared to fiscal 1990 (ended June 1991) by the target year of 2000. Toyota put in place a system to carry out tasks such as proposing fuel efficiency target values and devising strategies to apply them to technology development and products. This system, involving the participation of various R&D centers, various technology divisions engaged in developing component technology, and divisions responsible for domestic sales, among others, allowed Toyota to meet the fiscal 2000 (ended March 2001) fuel efficiency standards in good time.

In the third phase of the Toyota Environmental Action Plan covering fiscal 2001-2005 (ended March 2002-2006) and the fourth phase covering fiscal 2006-2010 (ended March 2007-2011), achieving the best fuel efficiency performance in each country and region was declared the goal. In Japan, 1999 saw the setting of a new goal in the form of the 2010 fuel efficiency standards, but TMC fulfilled the goals in all seven weight categories ahead of time in 2005 during the third phase. Accordingly, initiatives in the fourth phase focused on the goal of exceeding the 2010 standards and realizing further fuel efficiency improvements. In the fifth phase covering fiscal 2011-2015 (ended March 2012-2016), a goal has been set to increase 2015 global average fuel efficiency by 25 percent compared to 2005.