Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. has lent strong support to the maker's green initiatives.
Ford Motor Co. aims to reduce the CO2 output of its global factory network by 30% by 2025, part of a sustainability effort that has already seen a 37% drop in the emissions of the global warming gas since 2000, the maker says.
That was one of the key messages outlined in Ford’s 14th annual Sustainability Report released Friday. The maker said its factory effort helped reduce by 4.65 million tons the amount of all emissions it has produced since the beginning of the new Millennium, a 47% overall reduction.
The maker said that its “Blueprint for Sustainability” calls for other steps to benefit the environment. It is using less water, for example, while also finding ways to do more work while consuming less energy.
“In the more than 30 years I have been with the company, I have seen genuine transformation as Ford has integrated sustainability into its business plan, products, operations and relationships with stakeholders,” proclaimed Robert Brown, vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering. “Water and energy use, waste-to-landfill, Ford’s role in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases like CO2 in our atmosphere – these are just a few of the top sustainability-related priorities considered in every decision.”
Ford has long prided itself on a commitment to the environment. Chairman Bill Ford Jr., for example, led an effort to rebuild the maker’s huge Rouge River assembly complex near Detroit as a showcase of green manufacturing. Among other things, the facility has a living roof, using a variety of grasses and other plants to absorb water that might otherwise be dumped into overflowing sewer systems.
The maker has also pressed to use a variety of recycled materials in its vehicles, including rubber from tires that might otherwise have been dumped into landfills.
Ford officials note that founder Henry Ford saw benefit in recycling, reusing the wood from packing crates used by his suppliers for the floorboards in the original Model T.
The maker has also been ramping up its focus on alternative energy. It has launched a wide range of hybrids, plug-ins and battery-electric vehicles.
Consumers, it appears, recognize Ford’s efforts. Consulting firm Interbrand this week released the results of its third annual “Best Global Green Brands” study which positioned Ford as second among all major global brands, behind only Toyota.
“We are much more proactive in understanding the importance of sustainability in the broadest sense – not only in relation to our products, but also in the quality of the financial results that we derive from them,” said Ford Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks.
In its Sustainability Report, Ford noted that it wants to extend its environmental efforts to its suppliers, as well, noting it has so far trained 325 of them in its corporate “Code of Human Rights, Basic Working Conditions and Corporate Responsibility.”
Ford is by no means the only maker to put an emphasis on sustainability. Even little Subaru has made a point of eliminating landfill wastes coming from its U.S. operations – a fact it has highlighted in a series of TV commercials. GM has eliminated landfill waste at most of its U.S. plants, as well.
While the automobile often gets blamed for a variety of environmental issues, the Interbrand Green Brand study found that eight automakers, in all, landed among the 50 most respected global corporations for their sustainability efforts – five of them in the study’s Top 10.