Snapshot of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ford Facilities and Ford-Produced Vehicles

During 2010, we updated our estimate of global GHG emissions from our facilities and Ford vehicles, using data from 2008, the most recently available. The estimate is shown in Figure 1, along with the estimates carried out in 2001 and 2006/7 for the years 1999 and 2005, respectively.

We estimate that our total CO2 emissions are in the range of 350–400 million metric tonnes (Mmt) per year, varying over time with fluctuations in vehicle production and sales, on-road fleet size and vehicle miles traveled. The estimate includes emissions from our facilities, emissions from current year vehicles and emissions from all Ford vehicles on the road. Please note that while we can exercise a significant degree of ongoing control over our facility emissions, we have essentially no control over the emissions of vehicles once they are produced and on the road.

Our assessment of the emissions from Ford’s facilities and Ford-made vehicles on the road decreased between 2005 and 2008 from approximately 400 to 350 million metric tonnes of CO2, primarily due to better data availability for a key parameter.1 Normalizing for the change in the key parameter, the emissions remained relatively stable at approximately 350 Mmt.

Outside the scope of this estimate, we are also in the process of understanding the GHG emissions from our key suppliers’ facilities, as described in the Supply Chain section.

Figure 1. Estimate of CO2 emissions from our facilities and Ford vehicles on the road in 2008, 2005 and 1999.

Million metric tons CO2 (approx.)

  1999 2005 2008
Total 383 415 342
Facilities 9 8 5
New vehicles, World 35 37 29
Vehicles on the road, World 338 370 308

New vehicles are those sold in the year of interest; vehicles on the road are those sold prior to the year of interest.

In detail, the updated 2010 snapshot of estimated CO22 emissions shows that between 2005 and 2008:

  • Emissions from our facilities improved by approximately 38 percent during this period. This reflects an approximately 16 percent improvement in the amount of CO2 emitted per vehicle produced (i.e., our energy-efficiency index improved globally by about 16 percent from 2005 to 2008). It also reflects lower overall vehicle production. These estimates are fairly precise.3 Facility GHG emissions, however, are a small percentage (about 2 percent) of the total.
  • Emissions from current-year (20084) vehicles on the road decreased by about 22 percent relative to the prior year, primarily reflecting a decline in vehicle sales. We have moderate confidence in the precision of the estimate for U.S. vehicles; the estimate for the rest of the world is less precise.5 These emissions account for about 8 percent of the total.
  • Emissions from all Ford vehicles on the road are estimated to be about 308 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year, lower than in our previous analyses, primarily due to better data availability for a key parameter. This estimate, which accounts for about 90 percent of the total, remains highly uncertain.6
  1. Our estimate for the CO2 emissions for the greater-than-one-year-old on-road fleet decreased from 370 to 308 Mmt between 2005 and 2008. This decrease primarily reflects better data availability for a key value in the calculation (the global Light Duty Vehicle fraction of road transportation petroleum use, which we now assume to be 0.6 as opposed to 0.7 in our previous analyses). Using the old data value of 0.7 for the 2008 global CO2 estimate would increase the 308 Mmt value to 359 Mmt. Such changes in our assessment reflect the difficulties in assessing precisely the emissions from the global fleet of Ford vehicles.
  2. CO2 emissions account for substantially all of the GHG emissions from our facilities and vehicles.
  3. This is calculated consistent with the World Resources Institute/World Business Council for Sustainable Development Greenhouse Gas Protocol; it includes direct (Scope 1) and indirect (Scope 2) emissions.
  4. 2008 is the most recent year for which complete data is available.
  5. Calculated using Ford U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy and global market share figures. This estimate is subject to considerable uncertainty as it incorporates multiple assumptions about how consumers use their vehicles (e.g. miles traveled overall and urban-highway breakdown) and about fuel economy values in markets outside of the U.S.
  6. This is calculated based on our market share and a sector-based approach to determine the fractional contribution of LDVs to global total CO2 emissions. This estimate is subject to considerable uncertainty, as it is based on multiple assumptions, including that all automakers’ fleets have the same fuel economy and vehicle life span.

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