To effectively cope with today's environmental challenges, we need comprehensive assessments of the actual impact of Nissan vehicles on the global environment. Nissan has defined three key areas in which we use the LCA method to quantitatively measure the environmental impact of each product throughout its entire life cycle (from the extraction of resources used in production to the disposal of end-of-life vehicles).

Nissan first introduced LCA in the early 1990s, using the method to track and identify the environmental impact of the vehicle body and frame, radiators and other components, air-conditioner coolants and other items. LCA and other methods were also applied to the front-end module of the Skyline and the backdoor of the Stagea, in order to advance quantitative comparisons of the environmental impact accompanying changes in the materials used in parts.

Based on the results of the LCA Project carried out by the LCA Committee of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (from October 1997 to March 2001), we reviewed our in-house LCA methods and calculated results for our major models.

CO2 emissions of the Elgrand were taken to be 100, and CO2 emissions for each vehicle were expressed as a percentage of this at each stage-resource extraction, production, use and disposal.