John Viera

Ford Motor Company

Director, Sustainable Business Strategies

In 2007, Ford took a big step forward on the climate change front, developing a goal to reduce vehicle CO2 emissions by 30 percent by 2020. We are executing to that plan, delivering vehicles to the market that have best-in-class fuel economy. In fact, we have really accelerated our efforts by announcing, for example, our plan to deliver a battery-powered van in 2010, a battery electric small car in 2011 and a fleet of plug-in hybrids in 2012.

Bottom line: we will see some overachievement and some underachievement each year as we work toward our 30 percent reduction goal. But without a doubt, we're on the path to get there.

The fact that we already had a sustainability plan really helped us last year when the auto companies went before Congress. We didn't have to create a plan to give to lawmakers – we already had our blueprint for sustainability to prove how we are moving forward. The blueprint had many of the elements Congress was looking for to respond to climate change, including more fuel-efficient vehicles and better technologies.

Companies like Ford can play an active role in developing climate change-related public policies. Our vehicle emission goals are consistent with the aggressive CO2 reduction targets that were outlined by the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. We're participating actively in the Partnership and in other efforts around the world.

For example, in a move to reduce CO2 emissions, some European countries created voucher incentive programs to encourage people to trade in their older vehicles. A similar program in the U.S. could have a significant impact on climate change by replacing less-efficient vehicles with newer models that are equipped with much cleaner technologies. As this report was published, such proposals are being considered for the U.S. At the same time, such programs would also boost auto sales and help our industry. In Germany, car sales jumped to their highest level in 10 years in February 2009, thanks to the program.

In a bad economic environment, it's even more important for Ford to stay focused on issues of sustainability because they directly impact our bottom line. For starters, market conditions convinced us to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles, and new regulatory requirements will penalize us if we fail to meet new standards. Moreover, customers continue to indicate that fuel economy is a reason to buy a new vehicle, even when gasoline prices are low. Clearly, we need to push the sustainability agenda when developing new products to make them more attractive to consumers.

A few years ago, Ford was looking equally at electrification and hydrogen fuel cells as possible replacements for petroleum in the long term. But over the last year, we made the decision to concentrate our efforts on electrification. Given our difficult economic situation, we had to prioritize one area for our vehicle technology focus. Electricity won out in part because of the infrastructure advantages over hydrogen.

Of course, the climate change debate isn't just about vehicle technology; it's also about fuels and how much people drive. A company like ours can't make much of an impact on the fuels themselves, but we can help reduce the number of miles driven by engaging with governments and others to improve transportation options in and around cities.