Greenpeace USA Takes Aim at Ford’s Clean Car Claims

Greenpeace USA released Masks Included, a satirical video pressuring Ford Motor Company to halt its efforts to roll back clean fuel standards. The Auto Alliance, an industry advocacy group whose members include Ford as well as other major automakers, has been putting pressure on the EPA to weaken corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for cars and trucks implemented during the Obama administration. The EPA is expected to announce a decision about gas mileage rules this week.

“Ford can greenwash its practices all it wants, but that doesn’t change the fact that as a member of the Auto Alliance, Ford has been instrumental in the expected rollback of strong fuel standards. We are calling on Ford to publicly condemn the Auto Alliance’s efforts,” said Greenpeace Campaigner Natalie Nava. “Polluting cars not only have a devastating effect on climate change, they also affect health outcomes for millions of Americans, particularly those in communities near freeways, refineries, and extraction sites.”

The video mirrors typical car ads, with a woman driving her children to school in a Ford Future, a hypothetical car of the future that comes equipped for the environment we might expect to see if Ford and its peers continue to undermine clean car standards. The Ford Future is special in that it comes equipped with particle masks since the air of the future would be much more difficult to breath should EPA gut CAFE standards. The video concludes with Greenpeace urging Ford to protect our air and ensure that it is clean in the future.

The video comes as conservative interests continue to chip away at clean fuel standards. Last week, a coalition of groups led by the Koch brothers pressured the EPA to revoke California’s waver from the Clean Air Act. But green groups and health professionals alike agree that if kept in place, the latest iteration of CAFE standards would deliver significant health benefits for the millions of Americans living with respiratory ailments, or in areas with poor air quality.

Additionally, these standards would be the most ambitious move by the U.S. to reduce climate emissions, cutting tailpipe emissions in half and reducing oil consumption by 12 billion barrels by 2021. CAFE standards have broad bipartisan support, with 150,000 supportive public comments submitted during 2018’s Midterm Evaluation by advocates, including Fortune 500 companies, health organizations, and environmental and consumer groups. This is in addition to the 300,000 supportive comments submitted during the original 2016 evaluation.

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/g3nvJjKx47Y