Driver
Paradoxically, the "driver" portion of the GHG emissions equation holds the potential for substantial reductions at minimal cost, but it is often overlooked. We focus on the driver because, ultimately, drivers decide which vehicles and fuels they will purchase and how those vehicles will be driven.
Since 2000, Ford has offered an "eco-driving" program through its German dealerships in partnership with the German Federation of Driving Instructor Associations and the German Road Safety Council. The program has documented the potential for up to a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy when drivers adopt conservation-minded driving and vehicle maintenance habits. During 2006, we built on this experience and rolled out a Web-based eco-driving program to all U.S. salaried employees. The eco-driving approach has also been incorporated into Driving Skills for Life, a teen driver education program. Eco-driving tips are available to the public via the Ford Web site.
We believe that our customers are concerned about vehicle GHG emissions and ready to help reduce them. As a complement to eco-driving, we are offering customers an innovative tool called carbon offsetting, which neutralizes the CO2 emissions from one source by supporting projects that reduce emissions elsewhere by the same amount. Through our Greener Miles program, operated in partnership with TerraPass, Ford owners and customers can easily calculate the amount of GHGs created by driving their vehicle and learn more about climate change and how carbon offsetting works. They can offset, or neutralize, a year of their driving by purchasing a TerraPass customized to their vehicle and driving patterns. The proceeds – ranging from about $30 to $80 – are used to fund clean renewable energy production (like that from wind farms), which reduces GHG emissions by displacing coal-fired electricity from the power grid.
During 2006, the program's first year of operation, 23,000 people visited the site, one-third used the calculator and 361 purchased offsets. Together with offsets purchased by Ford to cover the manufacture of its 2007 MY hybrid vehicles, a total of 23,876 tonnes of GHG were avoided.
Our Land Rover brand has built upon the Greener Miles model by including three years' worth of carbon offsets in the purchase price of its vehicles in the UK. The program, developed and run in partnership with the NGO Climate Care, is part of an integrated approach that includes fuel economy improvements to the vehicles and offsets for all of Land Rover's manufacturing GHG emissions.
The offset cost of £85 to £165 (approximately $165 to $325) is included on the invoice to the customer and is clearly communicated by the dealer. This amount represents 45,000 miles (equivalent to three years' average driving). Land Rover tested the program with customers before its launch and found that they were prepared to play an active role.
The program, which began with the 2007 model year and will run for an initial three-year period, is projected to offset 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 in total, including 600,000 tonnes related to manufacturing emissions and the balance to customer vehicle use. Following the success of the UK program, Land Rover is evaluating extension to other countries.
Land Rover selects offset projects in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency and technology change cooperatively with Climate Care, with consideration also given to the social and environmental benefits of the project. In March 2007, the first offset projects were announced, including providing run-of-river hydroelectric power to a remote area of Tajikistan and funding a wind farm in China.
