Ford pledges to cut emissions by 30%

In a move designed to appease green-minded investors, Ford has pledged to reduce its new-vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 at the latest for both the U.S. and Europe. Ford believes promoting itself as environmentally responsible will attract customers, mimicking the strategy Toyota has successfully employed with its hybrid fleet.

The announcement is also in line with an agreement between Ford and several shareholder groups with green agendas, the biggest of which is the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility - an investor group representing almost 300 religious institutional investors and managing more than $100 billion.

The investment group has also announced they want GM to follow Ford's lead and set its own targets, reports Bloomberg.

Activists groups like Friends of the Earth call the new targets “unimpressive,” explaining that the 30% target only matches “existing regulatory requirements.” Remember, Ford is already mandated to lift its fleet average fuel economy levels to 35mpg by the same 2020 cutoff date in the U.S. and will face new 120g/km CO2 limits in Europe in coming years.