Supplier Environmental Management

At Ford, our aim is to integrate sustainability throughout our supply chain. We require third-party ISO 14001 certification for all production suppliers with manufacturing facilities. In addition, ISO 14001 certification is expected of non-production supplier facilities if the supplier has a manufacturing site or a non-manufacturing site with significant environmental impacts that ships products to Ford. We also encourage our suppliers to require their own suppliers to implement environmental management systems.

Our supplier contracts specify environmental requirements covering a range of issues, such as reducing or eliminating materials of concern, using Design for Sustainability principles, increasing the use of sustainable materials and using materials that will improve vehicle interior air quality. We ask suppliers to use recycled materials whenever technically and economically feasible. (For more on our use of recycled materials, see the Sustainable Materials section.) We look for opportunities across our organization to purchase environmentally superior goods and services. For example, we now require that our new personal computer purchases be certified as meeting comprehensive environmental criteria.

Supplier Engagement on Environmental Sustainability

As we do for other important issues such as human rights, we take a three-pronged approach to engaging with suppliers on environmental sustainability issues. We work with individual supplier factories; with key suppliers’ corporate management; and in cooperation with other automakers to influence practices across the automotive supply chain.

Supplier Factories

As mentioned above, each Tier 1 manufacturing site providing parts to Ford is required to have ISO 14001 certification. Since 2012, our supplier training programs have included content on our expectations for environmental management (in addition to covering human rights and working conditions issues). We believe this will help build supplier capability to manage these issues effectively. This content expansion aligns our training activity with our updated Policy Letter 24: Code of Human Rights, Basic Working Conditions and Corporate Responsibility and other supplier expectations and guidelines.

Engagement with Suppliers’ Corporate Management

As part of our Aligned Business Framework (ABF), ABF suppliers commit to managing and ensuring responsible environmental management in their facilities and in their supply chain. We regularly address current and emerging environmental issues and solutions with ABF suppliers at periodic meetings and in regular communications. Please see Going Further with Our ABF Suppliers for information on this topic.

Industry Collaboration

We work in industry forums to encourage common approaches to the supply chain challenges of our industry. For example, we have been integrating environmental sustainability and greenhouse gas management issues into our work with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), and a Ford representative co-chairs the AIAG Greenhouse Gas (GHG) work group. Through the AIAG, we helped to establish common industry guidance and a reporting format for GHG emissions which will be used by global automakers and Tier 1 suppliers. Our initial 2010 survey and results heavily influenced the AIAG guidance and reporting format, as Ford was the only automaker exploring Scope 3 GHG emissions and related risks and opportunities at that time. Ford continues to be a leader within the automotive industry in supplier engagement on GHG emissions management and reporting. For more information on our supplier greenhouse gas program, please see Supplier Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

In 2013, we also helped to form and now co-chair the AIAG’s new Environmental Sustainability Advisory Group. The new group will monitor key environmental issues in the industry and help to develop common metrics, standards and benchmarks, in an effort to improve both the effectiveness and the efficiency of member companies’ and industry groups’ sustainability efforts. The new group will educate suppliers and manufacturers in the industry about key environmental issues and serve as an industry “think tank” on environmental sustainability.

Since 2007 we have been a member of the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment, an innovative partnership between automobile original equipment manufacturers, their suppliers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This partnership works to create new and innovative business-centered approaches to environmental protection and provides a forum for small, midsize and large automotive and vehicle suppliers to work together, learn from each other and share environmental best practices.