Ford Motor
What do our scores mean?
The organizational score represents the degree to which the organization influencing climate policy and legislation. Corporations also have relationship scores reflecting their links with influencers like trade associations. Both are combined to place the corporation in a performance band. Full details can be found here.
Update August 2021: If limited evidence had been collected either on a company's direct policy engagement (Organization Score) or industry association links (Relationship Score) this is signified with an ‘n/a’ (not available). If limited evidence has been collected in both areas, the Total Score is also given as n/a. Full details and links back to any primary evidence that has been collected can still be located on the company’s profile.
Engagement Intensity
The engagement intensity (EI) is a metric of the extent to which the company is engaging on climate change policy matters, whether positively or negatively. It is a number from 0 (no engagement at all) to 100 (full engagement on all queries/data points). Clearly energy companies are more affected by climate regulations and will have a higher EI than, for example retailers. So an organization’s score should be looked at in conjunction with this metric to gauge the amount of evidence we are using in each case as a basis for scoring. On our scale, an EI of more than 25 indicates a relatively large amount of climate policy engagement.
Relationship Score, December 2020
A new batch of industry associations has been uploaded onto the InfluenceMap system and the relationship scores recalculated accordingly.
Updated terminology, February 2021
We adjusted the terminology used to describe the queries running down the left-hand side of our scoring matrix and added additional explanatory text to the info-boxes. This has no impact on the scores and methodology. It has been done following user feedback to improve clarity.
- Details of Organization Score
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What do the 0,1,2 and NSs, NAs mean?
Each cell in the organization's matrix presents a chance for us to assess each data source against our column of climate change policy queries. We score from -2 to 2, with negative scores representing evidence of obstructive influence. "NA" means "not applicable" and "NS" means "not scored" - that is we did not find any evidence either way. In both cases, the cell's weighting is re-distributed over others. Red and blue cells represent highly interesting negative or positive influence respectively. Full details can be found here.
- Details of Relationship Score
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What is the Relationship Score
A corporation, as well as its organizational score will have a relationship score. It is computed by aggregating the organizational scores of the Influencers (trade bodies etc.) it has relationships with, weighted by both the strength of these relationships and the relative importance of the Influencers towards climate change policy. Full details can be found here.
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QUERIES
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DATA SOURCES | ||||||
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Main Web Site
The main organizational Web site of the company and its direct links to major affiliates and attached documents. |
Social Media
We search other media and sites funded or controlled by the organization, such as social media (Twitter, Facebook) and direct advertising campaigns of the organization. |
CDP Responses
We assess and score responses to two questions from CDP's climate change information request (12.3 a & 12.3c) related to political influence questions (currently these are not numerically scored by the CDP process). |
Legislative Consultations
Comments from the entity being scored on governmental regulatory consultation processes, including those obtained by InfluenceMap through Freedom of Information requests. |
Media Reports
Here we search in a consistent manner (the organization name and relevant query search terms) a set of web sites of representing reputable news or data aggregations. Supported by targeted searches of proprietary databases. |
CEO Messaging
Here we search in a consistent manner (the CEO/Chairman, organization name and relevant query search terms) a set of web sites of representing reputable news or data aggregations. Supported by targeted searches of proprietary databases. |
Financial Disclosures
We search 10-K and 20-F SEC filings where available, and non US equivalents where not. . |
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Communication of Climate Science
Is the organization transparent and clear about its position on climate change science? |
2
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2
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NS | NS |
0
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1
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NS |
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Alignment with IPCC on Climate Action
Is the organization supporting the science-based response to climate change as set out by the IPCC? (the IPCC) |
1
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1
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NA | NS | NS |
0
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NS |
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Supporting the Need for Regulations
To what extent does the organization express the need for regulatory intervention to resolve the climate crisis? |
0
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0
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NS | NS | NS |
0
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-1
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Support of UN Climate Process
Is the organization supporting the UN FCCC process on climate change? |
1
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1
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NA | NS |
1
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NS | NS |
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Transparency on Legislation
Is the organisation transparent about its positions on climate change legislation/policy and its activities to influence it? |
-1
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NA |
-1
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NA | NA | NA | NS |
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Carbon Tax
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: carbon tax. |
NS |
0
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-1
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NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Emissions Trading
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: emissions trading. |
1
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NS |
-1
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NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Energy and Resource Efficiency
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: energy efficiency policy, standards, and targets |
0
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-1
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1
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-1
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0
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-1
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-1
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Renewable Energy
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: Renewable energy legislation, targets, subsidies, and other policy |
0
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NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Energy Transition & Zero Carbon Technologies
Is the organization supporting an IPCC-aligned transition of the economy away from carbon-emitting technologies, including supporting relevant policy and legislative measures to enable this transition? |
0
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1
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NS |
1
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1
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1
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-1
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GHG Emission Regulation
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: GHG emission standards and targets. Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: Standards, targets, and other regulatory measures directly targeting Greenhouse Gas emissions |
0
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1
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0
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0
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-1
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0
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-1
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Disclosure on Relationships
Is the organization transparent about its involvement with industry associations that are influencing climate policy, including the extent to which it is aligned with these groups on climate? |
-1
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NS |
-2
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NA | NA | NA | NS |
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce
Open PDF file of Data Source
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Senior Executive of Ford is on the board of directors of USCC
Gerald Shaheen
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Senior Executive of Ford is on the board of directors of USCC
Gerald Shaheen
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a member of NAM
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a member of NAM
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a member of NAM
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a member of NAM
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a member of Business Europe through it's membership of the BDI (through the VDA)
n/a
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a partner company in the Corporate Advisory and Support Group
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a member of Business Europe through it's membership of the BDI (through the VDA)
n/a
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
InfluenceMap Comment:
Ford is a partner company in the Corporate Advisory and Support Group
not specified
How to Read our Relationship Score Map
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
Climate Lobbying Overview: Ford is heavily engaged on US climate legislation with mixed engagement. The company explicitly supports emissions reductions in line with the below 2°C ambition set out in the Paris Agreement and has signalled strong support for the electrification of transportation. Furthermore, while the company has a history of regressive lobbying against US federal CAFE standards, starting in 2019 Ford began to diverge from it’s US peers, with the company reaching a compromise deal with California on the state’s standards. The company has generally become more positive on the prospect of regulation for the transport sector after this point. However, Ford retains memberships to some regressive trade associations, many of which have been key in opposing climate regulation in the US and EU.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Ford is explicitly supportive of emissions reductions in line with the below 2°C ambition set out in the Paris Agreement. The company appears to broadly acknowledge the role of climate regulation in it’s 2019 Climate Change Scenario, although it specifies some broad exceptions to this support.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Ford has consistently engaged with policymakers on US Federal CAFE standards. Ford’s submissions to the EPA consultation on the standards in October 2018 indicated that Ford did not support Obama-era CAFE standards, and was reflected concerns at the prospect of divergence in Federal and Californian regulation. In January 2019, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. told Reuters “We’re not asking for a rollback, but we’ve got to get everybody at the table, especially California.” Despite this, Ford was part of a group of companies who wrote a letter to President Donald Trump in June 2019 which advocated against the freezing of federal CAFE standards, although it also proposed standards weaker than those set under the Obama Administration.
However, Ford’s strategy appeared to change and in July 2019 Ford entered into a voluntary agreement with California regulators that accepted the state's GHG emission standards and Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) programs. In November 2020, Ford Americas President Kumar Galhotra sent a letter to other automakers asking them to support the California deal.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Ford states that it supports the electrification of transportation in it’s 2018 Sustainability Report, published in 2019. In the same report it highlights a number of advocacy positions including pushing for the maintenance of the US EV Tax Credit and not advocating against California’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate. In a January 2019 interview with Bloomberg, Bill Ford Jr stated his support for electrifying transport, emphasizing support for electric infrastructure. In October 2020 it was reported that Ford was generally supportive of the proposed Zero-Emission Vehicles Act, which would create a federal national zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) standard and address climate change by ending U.S. sales of new ICE vehicles. Furthermore, a Politico report from May 2021 suggests Ford was advocating for increased US spending on electric vehicle infrastructure.
Industry Association Governance: Ford has briefly discussed it’s work with trade associations in its 2018 Sustainability Report, and has disclosed a list of trade groups it has membership of in the US, but provides no further details on these groups' climate policy positions, or Ford's alignment or influence in this regard. Ford has not completed an audit of it’s trade associations. The company retains memberships to a number of regressive trade associations including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (now the Alliance for Automotive Innovation), BusinessEurope, Business Roundtable, European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), German Automotive Association (VDA) and the US Chamber of Commerce.
A detailed assessment of the company's industry association review can be found on our CA100+ webpage here.