Ford Aims to Help Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Its Global Supply Chain

By DE Editors

Ford is surveying 35 top global suppliers to gain a better understanding of their greenhouse gas emissions footprint as part of a broader effort to reduce carbon emissions within the auto industry

Ford is working with World Resources Institute, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the Carbon Disclosure Project in an effort to identify appropriate data from suppliers. Ford intends to share lessons learned and lead collaboration with other automotive companies through the Automotive Industry Action Group

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.

“Suppliers play an important role as we look to reduce our overall carbon footprint and drive more efficiency in an energy constrained world,” said Tony Brown, Ford group vice president, Global Purchasing. “This initiative builds on our leadership in collaborating with suppliers and gives them a way to participate in solving an issue that faces our entire industry.”
The data gathered from suppliers will be evaluated using InSight modeling software from PTC. 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.

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).

For more information, visit Ford’s “Blueprint for Sustainability” site.

Sources:  Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.