Peter Sherry, Jr.

When I first started here at Ford Motor Company in the early 1980s, I don't think "sustainability" was part of our corporate lexicon. That started to change over time and really accelerated when Bill Ford became CEO in 2001. We began to recognize that it was in our Company's bottom line business interests to focus on issues of sustainability.

Sustainability has been a steadily accelerating progression at Ford. Take for example, our Board of Directors, which in 2009 renamed its Environment and Public Policy Committee as the Sustainability Committee. This change helped narrow the focus of the Committee. It sent a clear and consistent message both inside and outside the Company that Ford's leadership is focused on the important sustainability issues that are pivotal to our business, such as climate change, energy independence, vehicle safety, mobility and human rights. Changing the name ensured a continuity of purpose and a continuity of approach.

In particular, the committee has been spending increasing amounts of time looking at technology issues to make sure that Ford will be able to meet and exceed government-mandated fuel economy standards, both in the U.S. and in Europe, and that we will continue to be a leader in this area around the world.

These days, sustainability governance and more traditional corporate governance overlap, maybe even to the point of merging. We have a very complicated business that impacts a host of different areas, and you can't divorce any one from the others. In other words, you can't manage each issue separately. Fuel economy, alternative fuel vehicles, electrification – these are absolutely critical to the success of this Company. They are also critical from a broader social, environmental and economic standpoint. So, it's essential that your strategy and your plans in these areas be part of your overall business plan.

Sustainability permeates Ford's management. Each week, senior executives participate in the Business Plan Review chaired by our CEO, Alan Mulally. There, and in the Special Attention Review that follows, sustainability issues are discussed, just as any other critical issue within our business would be discussed. Sustainability governance is just a part of the whole. Indeed, if Ford itself is not sustainable as a company, nothing else we do will matter.

Of course, it is impossible to predict the future. Instead, the Board, the Committee and Company management must try to anticipate long-term trends to make sure we are able to position ourselves favorably. For example, it's no secret that we're anticipating a larger segment of the world population will want to drive smaller, more fuel-efficient cars that also have the features that discerning consumers want and value. That wasn't historically the case, particularly here in the U.S., yet we're now making the investments to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles to meet developing consumer demand.

It's important that Ford work collaboratively with all of our stakeholders around the world, whether they are shareholders, employees, dealers, government agencies or nongovernmental organizations. Historically, the mentality at companies like ours was that others outside our industry shouldn't presume to tell us what to do. Today, we know that's not an effective approach. The best way to solve difficult global issues, such as vehicle safety and fuel economy, is to work together with others – even with those whose interests may not always be completely aligned with ours.