8 | | FEBRUARY 2026FORD IS BUILDING A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTUREBy Cynthia M. Flanigan, Ph.D., Henry Ford Technical Fellow, Sustainability, Ford Motor CompanyConversations about sustainability have shifted over the decades from being "nice to have" to being essential to the success of businesses. At Ford, we take our commitments to sustainability seriously, and have approached the topic holistically by undertaking sweeping aspirational goals that impact every element of our business. Ford was the only full-line U.S. automaker that committed to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Paris Agreement for climate change, and we also led the voluntary agreement with California to adopt meaningful greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Recently, we committed to global carbon neutrality by 2050, to eliminate single-use plastics in our operations by 2030, and to use 100 percent locally sourced, renewable electricity in our global manufacturing plants by 2035. We're taking it even further by progressing our product material choices to increase the amount of recycled and renewable content, continuously reducing our environmental footprint and using materials that are otherwise slated to be burned or shipped to landfill.Sustainability is buried deep in Ford's DNA, as the company's founder Henry Ford led innovations beginning with producing plastics made from soybeans in his Dearborn laboratory in the 1930s. He believed in a deep partnership between industry and agriculture, each using the other's products. Beyond soy, Ford worked with corn and a host of natural fibers to produce automotive components. Today, we are proud to be engaged with numerous suppliers, universities, government entities and industrial manufacturers to make significant impacts in the research, development and implementation of plant-based and recycled materials. In this article, we are excited to share some of our recent successes in coupling innovation, sustainability and partnerships to introduce industry-first, sustainable products. These examples provide a peek into Ford's pipeline of research and development aimed at using plants, by-products from other industries, and our own waste materials to lead in transitioning to a circular economy. Let me close by saying that customers can be rest assured that these new materials meet (and usually exceed) all requirements for performance, and durability--so there is no compromise. In addition, many of them are lighter in weight, improving fuel economy, and many have additional performance benefits in heat, sound, and energy absorption--all while reducing our impact on the planet. What's not to like?Caffeinating Ford VehiclesOur first example highlights a recent success coming out of a cross-industry collaboration between two unlikely partners--Ford and McDonald's! McDonald's sells over 1 billion cups of coffee every year, the beans coming from several roasters. When coffee beans are roasted, a thin skin called "chaff" peels away from the bean. This material is generally considered waste and is generally either landfilled or burned. Ford and McDonald's worked together to utilize chaff as a replacement for talc fillers in plastic. The optimized new material resulted in several improved properties, including significantly lighter weight (>0.5lb per part), higher heat resistance, and faster part manufacturing times. This example of circular economy principles demonstrates that by-products with little use in one industry can improve the Cynthia M. FlaniganIN MY OPINION
< Page 7 | Page 9 >