Ford Aims To Help Reduce The Carbon Footprint

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Ford Motor Company announced plans to survey 35 top global suppliers on their energy use and estimated greenhouse gas emissions. Ford's goal is to better understand the carbon footprint of its supply chain and use the data to eventually create a broad-based carbon management approach for its supply chain. The 35 suppliers represent close to 30 percent of Ford's $65 billion in annual procurement spending.

The suppliers in the initial request include companies that make commodities such as seats, steering systems, tires, and metal components, which require more energy to produce and thus have a larger carbon footprint. While many of these suppliers already measure their greenhouse gas emissions, the project would facilitate collaboration and sharing of processes and practices that can drive significant emissions reductions and help meet future regulatory requirements.

"Climate change has the potential to affect all parts of our business, and is connected to other important issues – from water availability and energy security to human rights," said Susan Cischke, Group Vice President, Sustainability, Environment, and Safety Engineering. "Understanding the carbon footprint of our supply chain is a crucial part of our comprehensive global strategy to reduce greenhouse gases."

The data gathered from suppliers will be evaluated using modeling software from PTC InSight. Preliminary work Ford has done with PTC has indicated there are opportunities for both Ford and suppliers to reduce carbon emissions. Any reductions by suppliers would be in addition to Ford's own goal of reducing greenhouse gases 30 percent by 2020 from the company's 2006 model year baseline.

Several of Ford's top suppliers are already working to better understand their carbon emissions, including DuPont, TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., Bosch, and Johnson Controls. Johnson Controls, which supplies seats, interiors, electronics, and batteries to Ford, is also working with the Carbon Disclosure Project and has goals in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Johnson Controls also has a rating system that enables it to measure the sustainability activity of its own supply base.

As part of Ford's efforts to create a broad-based carbon management approach for its supply chain, they will share feedback from their data collection process with World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Ford is also working with the Automotive Industry Action Group in developing guidelines for measuring supplier emissions. It is the intent of Ford to share their experience in measurement and reporting of corporate and supply chain emissions with the industry group in order to lead the industry to consistent and comparable emissions estimation methods.