The Mazda CX-7 facelift reflects Mazda's ongoing efforts to build cars in a way that has less negative effect on the environment. This begins at Mazda assembly plants in Japan, which were ISO 14001 certified (an environmental management standard) over ten years ago - including the Ujina 2 plant in Hiroshima, where the Mazda CX-7 is assembled. Mazda also uses a unique three-layer paint system that reduces CO2 by 15 percent and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the paint by half.

At the end of its life, the Mazda CX-7 facelift, like all current Mazda models, is roughly 80 percent recyclable. The remaining 20 percent, most of it plastic rubber and glass, is named with ISO standard material labels so it can be sorted out and easily recycled and recovered. Mazda even recycles the materials from damaged bumpers to make new bumpers. If parts have to be discarded at the end of the vehicle's life, they contain hardly any substances that would pollute the environment. No lead is used in the Mazda CX-7 facelift's fuel tank, wire harness and electro-undercoating; and it has no hexavalent chromium or cadmium in any components.