Bonus gem

I'm always up for hearing about--that's right, I didn't say touting--a groundbreaking corporate commitment to transformational, sustainable change. Hence why I gave Ford's new sustainability report the time of day, or at least a good 10 minutes, this afternoon. The intro sounds like a huge step towards acknowledging the kind of innovation a company that manufactures, essentially, CO2 spewing machines and is part of a dying industry in America, would need to take:

"Climate change has the potential to affect all parts of our business and is interconnected to other important issues – from water availability and energy security to human rights and mobility. Ford has developed a comprehensive, science-based global strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and processes while working cooperatively with the public and private sectors to advance climate change solutions."

But it when it comes to the details of what Ford has actually planned, things get awkward. Here's the key elements of the strategy:

• Reduce CO2 emissions from U.S. and European new vehicles by 30 percent by 2020 (relative to 2006 baseline)
• All new vehicles will be best in class, or among the best in class, for fuel economy in their segment
• Expand the number of alternative vehicles on offer, including five new electric vehicles in Europe by 2013 and USA by 2012

Ignoring the second target--which is the definition of incremental innovation if I've ever seen one--let's look at the first one. 30% is certainly something. But note that this is for U.S. and Europe--the geography where Ford clearly anticipates there will be regulatory action on emissions. Nothing here about China or India, which will be the new focal markets for any car company over the next few decades--Western countries are already saturated and demand is static.

As for the lame attempt to introduce a few new electric vehicles, this hardly scratches the surface of what's needed to incentivize the rest of the industry to work with government and create the infrastructure for widespread electric vehicle usage. Nor does it address the question few seem to be asking in this whole arena: are electric vehicles even sustainable if they are charged with conventional sources of electricity? Can they be scaled up realistically in the time necessary to combat emissions from fuel usage? And can we ever envisage a world that goes beyond driving and the urban sprawl our Western culture of driving has created?

The worst part about this report is the carelessness with which Ford abuses the term 'sustainable mobility'. If they're actually committed to realizing this term--which I would define as nothing less than a radical transformation and rethinking of how we get from place to place in the modern world--they need to be doing a heck of a lot more to change their business model and their industry. Until then, I'd suggest they take it down a notch to reflect what they're actually planning on doing: staying one step ahead of compliance and making better cars.