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 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 ppm, the level generally accepted to 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 by 2025 on a per-vehicle basis.

During 2010, we expanded the climate stabilization analysis that we had undertaken previously for the U.S. and Europe to the other regions in which we operate. This analysis defines the emission reductions needed to meet our stabilization commitment. 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 blueprint for sustainability – 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 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 recent and upcoming actions, we:

• Reduced fleet-average CO₂ emissions from our 2010 model year U.S. and European new vehicles by 10.5 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, compared to the 2006 model year.1
• Reduced CO₂ emissions from our global operations by 5.6 percent on a per-vehicle basis, compared to 2009.
• Announced 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.
• Offered four models in North America that provide 40 miles per gallon or better – compared to 2009, when our most fuel-efficient vehicle achieved 35 miles per gallon.
• Offered 18 models in Europe that achieve a CO₂ emission level of 130 grams per kilometer, and two that achieve less than 100 grams per kilometer.
• Announced the development of a solar energy system – one of the largest in Michigan – that will help power the production of fuel-efficient small cars, including the Focus Electric, at our Michigan Assembly Plant.

Our Policies

Ford cannot 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 more fuel-efficient vehicles.

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 our obligations.

In This Section

In this section of our Sustainability Report we provide an overview of GHG emissions, including data on the contribution of light-duty vehicles, lifecycle CO₂ emissions from a typical vehicle and Ford’s own climate “footprint.” We also discuss the risks and opportunities the climate change issue poses for Ford, our climate change strategy – including our blueprint for sustainability – and how we are addressing climate change public policy issues. An electrification case study explores how we are bringing electrified vehicles to market.