Ford Forms Advisory Council for Environmental Matters

Ford Forms Advisory Council for Environmental Matters

Ford Motor Co. announced the formation of Transformation Advisory Council that consists of Ford senior executives as well as outside thought leaders to explore solutions to energy independence and global warming.

Initial outsiders selected for the council are big names -- Amory Lovins, Paul Hawken and Peter Senge.

“This is the start of a world-class group of innovative thinkers who will help propel us along the road to sustainability,” said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford in making the announcement made Tuesday.

Lovins is chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute who is a well-known thinker on resource use and the future of business and society.

Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur (founder of Smith and Hawken) and best-selling author who has dedicated his life to sustainability issues and the relationship between business and the environment.

Peter Senge is one of the world’s leading authorities on systems thinking and organizational learning. Senge is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning.

Ford made the announcement Tuesday during a speech on the automaker’s environmental efforts at the Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability at the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems.

Interviewed by the Detroit Free Press after the speech regarding company matters, Ford said he’s pleased with the UAW’s favorable votes so far on a new labor pact and with the progress the auto company is making.

"So far, so good. Each quarter this year, it's been steady progress," he told the Detroit Free Press.

Photo from Ford

Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford in a Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.