Ford tots up its 'gas' bill By Nikki Tait in Chicago and Tim Burt in London Published: May 3 2001 19:10GMT | Last Updated: May 4 2001 02:41GMT
Ford on Thursday became the first leading carmaker to work out how much its factories and vehicles contribute to the world's greenhouse gas emissions problem.
The car and truckmaker put the figure at about 400m tons of carbon dioxide equivalent - of which about 3 per cent stemmed from the company's manufacturing activities and the "vast majority" from Ford vehicles on the road.
In 1997, according to International Energy Agency figures, global carbon dioxide emissions were about 22,561m tons.
Some European automotive brands already produce environmental impact reports, but on a more limited basis.
Ford's blunt assessment, which the company admits is only approximate, is contained in its annual "corporate citizenship" report.
The second-largest US carmaker, spurred by Bill Ford, its environmentally-minded chairman, has already attempted to take the moral high ground - although critics point out that it still continues to push sales of highly-profitable but less fuel-efficient sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks.
However, Ford has announced a programme to improve fuel efficiency for its SUVs by 25 per cent within five years.
In Thursday's report, Ford revealed it had formed an executive team to look at ways of addressing the "greenhouse gas" issue.
On a conference call, Ford officials indicated that the company continued to view technology developments as "a key plank".
Martin Zimmerman, vice-president of government affairs, also side-stepped questions about the Kyoto Protocol, the global initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which the Bush administration has cold-shouldered.
Elsewhere in the report, Ford revealed that its employee satisfaction level appeared to have increased by about 5 per cent over the past year.