Ford is the latest company to announce a plan for achieving carbon neutrality. The car manufacturer will strive to become carbon neutral by 2050 by focusing on three main areas: vehicle use, supply base, and company facilities.
These three critical areas account for 95 percent of the company’s emissions. This new pledge builds upon Ford’s goal to supply all of its manufacturing plants with 100 percent locally-sourced energy by 2035. It’s also committed to investing more than $11.5 billion into electric vehicles through 2022.
The company is working around the Science Based targets initiative which comprises three scopes. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from the company, and Scope 2 covers indirect emissions created by the company. Scope 3 relates to the emissions created by the products it sells.
Other emissions-intensive companies such as Shell, BP, Delta and Formula 1 have also made similar commitments, while more ambitious companies like Microsoft have committed to go carbon negative. Only time will tell whether these companies are able to follow through and make meaningful climate-positive changes, but corporate commitments are the first step towards achieving real results.
