Ford Pledges to Cut Emissions

Shareholders and activists applauded Ford's announcement Wednesday to cut its global-warming gas emissions from all of its vehicles by 30%. They set a target date of 2020 to achieve that goal.

This plan closely follows the new fleetwide fuel economy increase passed by Congress that requires automakers to average 35 mpg in their fleets by the same date. In effect, Ford has simply outlined how they plan to hit the government's target.

On the other hand, Ford has minor history of back-tracking on lofty environmental pledges.

In 2000, the company announced it would raise the fuel economy of its SUVs by 25%. It recanted that promise three years later. In 2005 it swore it would be churning out 250,000 hybrid vehicles by 2010. Right now, they sell about 21,000 Mariner and Escape hybrids annually.

Ford Vows to Reduce Auto Emissions 30% (Detroit Free Press)