On Monday, Ford Motor Co. chief executive Alan Mulally said global warming is really happening and acknowledged it’s caused in part by auto emissions.

“The vast majority of data indicates that the temperature has increased, and I believe the correlation and the analysis says that is mainly because of the greenhouse gases keeping the heat in,” said Mulally, adding “The time for debating whether climate change is real has passed. It is time for a conversation about what we, as a society, intend to do to address it.” -- Detroit News

The comments were made during the announcement of Susan Cischke’s promotion to the new position of senior vice president in charge of sustainability, environment and safety engineering. She was previously vp of environmental and safety engineering. Cischke will be leading an overall greening on the company that will include product development, manufacturing, the supply chain and working conditions.

Will Ford renege again?

But many are questioning whether the announcement will be followed by positive actions. Other promised initiatives, from building 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010 to improving fuel economy of SUVs 25 percent by 2005 (a promise made in 2000), have been abandoned. I guess that's why Ford didn't make it into the top 12 greenest vehicles of 2007.

Admitting that climate change is a problem and the company's product is partly to blame is one thing, but I’m not exactly holding my breath on anything else just yet. Let's hope Ford decides it's time to follow through.