Operations

We have adopted a rigorous and holistic approach to reducing the overall environmental impacts of our manufacturing facilities. We have established global facility environmental targets that address the range of our environmental impacts, including energy use, emissions, water use and waste generation.

Every facility uses a detailed scorecard to report against environmental targets, so we can track and accelerate improvements. Progress toward the targets is reviewed throughout the year by senior management and CEO Alan Mulally at regular Business Plan Review meetings. In addition, these targets become part of the performance review metrics for every plant manager and regional manufacturing manager, as well as others in the management hierarchy up to the Group Vice President of Manufacturing and Labor Affairs. Our 2008 and 2009 targets and progress are shown in the Year-over-Year Environmental Targets chart.

To facilitate performance tracking, we also launched the Global Emissions Manager database, or GEM, in 2007. This industry-leading database provides a globally consistent approach for measuring and monitoring environmental data, which helps us track and improve our efforts to reduce water consumption, energy use, carbon dioxide emissions and the amount of waste sent to landfill. GEM also provides a library of environmental regulations relevant to each plant, significantly increasing the efficiency of tracking and meeting those regulations.

This section reports on our facilities' environmental performance, including energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, other emissions (including volatile organic compounds), water use, waste reduction, land use, compliance and remediation.