Climate Change and the Environment

Climate Change

Ford is committed to doing our share to prevent or reduce the potential for environmental, economic and social harm due to climate change.

We have a comprehensive, science-based global strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our products and processes while working cooperatively with the public and private sectors to advance climate change solutions. We are taking a holistic approach to the issue, recognizing that it affects all parts of our business and is interconnected to other important issues, from water availability and energy security to human rights.

We believe our commitment to addressing the climate change issue in a comprehensive and strategic way is one of the factors that has helped to positively transform our Company’s current and future products and prospects.

Our Commitment

Our climate change strategy is based on doing our share to stabilize carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million (ppm), the level that many scientists, businesses, and governmental agencies believe may avoid the most serious effects of climate change. Our stabilization commitment includes:

Each new or significantly refreshed vehicle will be best in class, or among the best in class, for fuel economy.
From our global portfolio of products, we will reduce GHG emissions enough to contribute to climate stabilization – even taking into account sales growth.
We will reduce our facility CO₂ emissions by 30 percent from 2010 to 2025 on a per-vehicle basis and average energy consumed per vehicle by 25 percent from 2011 to 2016 globally.

For an in-depth look at the science behind our commitment, please see Ford’s Science-Based CO₂ Targets.

Our technology migration plan – embodied in our Sustainable Technologies and Alternative Fuels Plan – maps the road we’re taking to achieve our product goals.

Our Progress

We are on track to meet our commitments. We are making progress by adding advanced technology to all our products and offering high-value, attractive models that are smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient, encouraging customers to shift their purchase behavior. We also continue to invest in energy-efficiency improvements at our facilities worldwide and, during 2010, explored carbon emissions in our supply chain through multi-stakeholder projects.

Among our recent and upcoming actions, we:

Reduced fleet-average CO₂ emissions from our 2011 model year U.S. new vehicles by 9 percent compared to the 2007 model year.
Reduced the fleet-average CO₂ emissions from our European vehicles by 8.5 percent from the 2006 to 2010 calendar years.1
Reduced CO₂ emissions from our global operations in 2011 by 8 percent on a per-vehicle basis, compared to 2010.
Implemented three more engines with our patented EcoBoost® fuel-saving technology. By 2013, we expect to be producing approximately 1.5 million EcoBoost engines globally, about 200,000 more than originally expected.
Began selling the Focus Electric, which gets combined 105 miles per gallon (mpg) equivalent (according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), making it the most fuel-efficient compact vehicle in the U.S. at the time of launch.
Offered 22 models in Europe that achieve a CO₂ emissions level of 130 grams per kilometer (g/km), and three that achieve less than 100 g/km.
Will offer – by the end of 2012 – eight models in North America that provide 40 mpg or better – compared to 2009, when our most fuel-efficient vehicle achieved 35 mpg.

Our Policies

Neither Ford nor the auto industry can achieve climate stabilization alone. Reducing emissions by the amount required calls for an integrated approach – a partnership of all stakeholders, including the automotive industry, the fuel industry, government and consumers. It can only be achieved by significantly and continuously reducing GHG emissions over a period of decades in all sectors of the economy. In the transportation sector, this means improving vehicle fuel economy, developing lower-carbon fuels and providing price signals to encourage consumers to purchase these more fuel-efficient vehicles and lower-carbon fuels.

If there is a mismatch between available fuels, vehicles and consumers, climate stabilization goals will not be met. Accordingly, we are committed to advocating for effective and appropriate climate change policy. We are promoting comprehensive market-based policy approaches that will provide a coherent framework for GHG emission reductions, so that companies like ours can move forward in transforming their businesses with a clear understanding of their obligations.