Ford Motor Company reduced the CO2 emissions of its 2009 U.S. models by 5 percent compared with its 2008 models last year, according to its 2009/2010 sustainability report, while greenhouse gas emissions for its European models fell by 6 percent. Ford says this puts the company on track to surpass its stated goal of reducing emissions by 30 percent by 2020 for U.S. and European models.
The company also reduced global operational emissions by 9 percent from a 2006 baseline and reduced its global water use by 16.6 percent, surpassing its goal of 6.6 percent. Ford will maintain the same goal for 2010.
The company increased energy efficiency in North American by 4.6 percent, saving the company $15 million, surpassing its goal of 3 percent improvement. Ford has again set targets to improve facility energy efficiency by 3 percent globally and 3 percent in North America in 2010.Global facility energy efficiency improved 3 percent during the year, in line with its targets. Landfill waste was reduced 20.7 percent, relative to 2008, surpassing a company goal of 10 percent reduction.
Ford reported it has eliminated mercury from all of its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models with the exception of the Lincoln Town Car.
In early 2010 Ford implemented a PC power management system to power down all desktop and notebook computers at night. The company said it expects the program to reduce annual energy costs by $1.2 million and CO2 emissions by 16,000 to 25,000 metric tons.
According to the report, peliminary data for the 2010 model year shows a 3.2 percent improvement in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) for cars and a slight decline of 2.4 percent in CAFE for trucks as compared to 2009. The increase for cars is due to increased customer demand for the more fuel-efficient medium-sized cars, which rose by 18 percent. The decrease in truck CAFE was attributed to increased demand for standard pickup trucks and larger SUVs.
In Europe, Ford reduced average vehicle CO2 emissions by 8.1 g/km in 2009 due to a change in model mix and a switch to use of lightweight materials. The company reported that it would also be introducing fuel efficient engines, technologies and vehicles to the Asian and South American markets.
