Materiality Matrix
High Impact, High Concern
14 material issues have been identified at this level
Climate change
Low-carbon strategy
| Definition/Description | Ford’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions from products and operations; goals and targets; use of renewable energy and offsets. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Strongly related to other material issues; of increasing interest to government and investors. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level |
| More information |
Vehicle GHG emissions
| Definition/Description | Ford’s product actions to meet its CO2 target. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Increasingly driven by regulatory requirements as well as Ford’s voluntary product CO2 goal; of increasing interest to government and investors. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level |
| More information |
Fuel economy
| Definition/Description | Increasingly global issue, but particular focus on Ford’s U.S. fleet. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Increasingly driven by regulatory requirements as well as Ford’s voluntary product CO2 goal; of increasing interest to government and investors. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level |
| More information |
Electrification strategy
| Definition/Description | Ford’s strategy to deliver electric vehicles to the marketplace and work with partners to address infrastructure and utility interface issues. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Reflects growing interest in alternatives to fossil fuels and domestic energy and the challenges of transitioning from traditionally fueled vehicles to plug-in vehicles. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level |
| More information |
Public policy
GHG/fuel economy regulation
| Definition/Description | Regulation of vehicle emissions globally, state-by-state regulation in U.S.; increasing stringency and inconsistency of regulation; challenges left by lack of U.S. federal climate legislation. |
|---|---|
| Comments | With passage of new CAFE requirements in U.S. and new EU requirements in Europe, focus is increasingly on economy-wide policy approaches. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level |
| More information |
Water
Water strategy
| Definition/Description | Includes growing recognition of water as a key sustainability issue, including water scarcity and risks, need for water risk assessments, and understanding of linkages between water and carbon. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Added as a material issue when we last updated our materiality analysis for the 2010–11 report, reflecting higher profile of this issue for Ford and stakeholders. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
New |
| More information |
Ford Financial Health
Product competitiveness
| Definition/Description | Ford’s strategy related to products and sales, including product mix, market share, and meeting customer demands, including for more fuel-efficient products. |
|---|---|
| Comments | A top concern for Ford and stakeholders. Reorganized and renamed since last materiality analysis. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level |
| More information |
Risk and cost management
| Definition/Description | Broad concerns about Ford’s financial performance, with a focus on costs and cost-related risks. |
|---|---|
| Comments | A top concern for Ford and stakeholders. Reorganized slightly and renamed since last materiality analysis. Includes health care legacy costs, labor costs, energy security and access to capital, formerly top-right issues on their own in the previous analysis. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level, though some of the specific issues have shifted up or down in importance |
| More information |
Ford Future Competitiveness
Sustainable mobility
| Definition/Description | Ford’s approach to increasing challenges of urban mobility, congestion, urbanization and mega-cities, as well as rural mobility and economic opportunity. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Reorganized – formerly under a stand-alone mobility category; now an element of Ford’s future competitiveness strategy. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level |
| More information |
Vehicle Safety
Vehicle safety
| Definition/Description | Active and passive safety; pedestrian safety; customer interest in and demand for safe vehicles; increasing regulation generally with focus on active safety; challenge of evolving in-vehicle technology. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Developed and emerging market issues differ. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Ford increasingly emphasizing market opportunity for safer products |
| More information |
Supply Chain Sustainability
Supplier relationships
| Definition/Description | Includes importance of Ford’s financial variability to suppliers and vice versa, and importance of strong relationships as well as established policies and performance commitments. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Increased importance in this analysis, especially to Ford and suppliers. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Increased in importance to Ford and stakeholders |
| More information |
Supply chain environmental sustainability
| Definition/Description | Includes need to address carbon and water issues in supply chain relationships. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Largely a new issue from last analysis, reorganized and of higher importance to Ford and stakeholders. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
New |
| More information |
Sustainable raw materials
| Definition/Description | Includes issues around conflict minerals, rare earth metals and other strategic materials, and overall impacts of raw material extraction on the environment, communities, geopolitics and Ford’s costs. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Added as a material issue when we last updated our materiality analysis for the 2010–11 report, reflecting increased prominence of these concerns. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
New |
| More information |
Human rights in the supply chain
| Definition/Description | Issues covered by Ford’s working conditions code; need for industry cooperation. |
|---|---|
| Comments | Issues have been reorganized in this analysis under umbrella of supply chain sustainability. High interest to communities, suppliers and NGOs. |
| Trend (from previous analysis) |
Already at the highest level |
| More information |