Ford has unveiled an “aggressive” sustainability programme centering on efforts to achieve a global water reduction target of 30% per vehicle by 2015
The programme calls for Ford to cut the amount of water used to make each vehicle 30% globally by 2015, compared with the amount of water used per vehicle in 2009. Ford said it is also developing year-over-year efficiency targets as part of its annual environmental business planning process and has established a cross-functional team to review water usage more holistically.
“Water remains one of our top environmental priorities and our aggressive reduction target helps ensure continued focus on this critical resource,” said Sue Cischke, group vice president, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering.
Ford’s latest water reduction initiatives follow on from the vehicle company’s Global Water Management Initiative that launched in 2000. Between 2000 and 2010, Ford said it reduced its global water use by 62 %, or 10.5 billion gallons.
If Ford meets its goal of reducing the amount of water used by 30 % between 2009 and 2015, the amount of water used to make a vehicle will have dropped from 9.5 cubic meters in 2000 to approximately 3.5 cubic meters in 2015. One cubic meter is equal to 264.2 gallons of water.
“As we invest in new and existing facilities globally, our water strategy prioritises sustainable manufacturing technologies,” said John Fleming, executive vice president, Global Manufacturing and Labor Affairs.
