When it comes to climate change, Ford and its global director of sustainability, John Viera, want to do what they can to be part of the solution. In its latest sustainability report, the company says, "Ford is committed to doing our share to prevent or reduce the potential for environmental, economic and social harm due to climate change.

Viera puts it simply: Climate change is real. Man has an impact on climate change. We as a company have to do our share.

Behind the rhetoric are actions. Ford has set science-based CO2 targets for North America, Europe, Brazil and China that determine the amount of greenhouse gases that its cars and trucks can emit over time, consistent with stabilizing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere at 450 ppm. Along with other automakers, it has agreed to the U.S. government’s fuel efficiency standards that mandate an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon for the 2025 model year.

All of which is well and good. But as John Viera acknowledged to me the other day, all of those good intentions will not take Ford, or the rest of us, where we need to go. Markets -- which are beyond Ford’s control -- will play a bigger role than corporate commitments or even the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) rules.

I sat down with John Viera the other day at Net Impact’s 2012 conference. About 2,700 mostly young people -- MBA students, undergrads and young professionals -- gathered in Baltimore to listen to business leaders, network and attend workshops on careers, investing and activism. (Net Impact is a community of young leaders who want to use the power of business to solve the world’s toughest problems. I’m on the board.)

A Chicago native, John has been with Ford for 28 years. He joined the company right out of  the University of Michigan, where he studied engineering, and worked on a variety of cars and trucks, running factories and dabbling in electric cars and natural gas-powered vehicles. When he was tapped to be the company’s sustainability chief in 2007, he was the chief engineer for a couple of truck-based SUVs, the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator. Yes, that was quite a turnabout.

Now, though, he firmly believes that sustainability issues -- notably the price and availability of energy, and climate concerns -- need to be a central element of the company’s strategy. Ford says that its cars needs to be high quality, smart, safe and green.

But, of course, it’s not as simple as that. Ford can’t force people to buy cars they don’t want. Gasoline prices are a key factor in car-buying decisions. When gas prices hit their historic highs during 2008, topping $4 a gallon in much of the country, Ford sold more small- and mid-sized cars than ever before. “We couldn’t keep them in stock,” John said. “The larger vehicles sat on the lot.” That’s to be expected.

Next page: For Ford, variety means market flexibility

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