You Won’t Believe What Ford Is Doing With CO2 Emissions

Ford CO2 foam (Credit: Ford)

Ford is pretty concerned about global warming, which is why it’s been innovating all kinds of biomaterials to cut down on waste. The Blue Oval’s latest innovation that it just unveiled takes CO2 emissions and turns it into something useful.

Believe it or not, Ford found a way to make plastic and foam with captured CO2. Up to half of the material is made of CO2-based polyols, which cuts down on the need for petroleum.

There aren’t too many details about how the automaker is doing this. Just know that sometime in the future, the padding in your Explorer could have come in part from CO2, just like the plastic parts under the hood of your Mustang. These are crazy times to live in, and with the way things are going we’re only going to see more creative materials.

Already, Ford uses recycled plastic bottles to make the REPREVE fabric in the 2016 F-150, or recycled denim and T-shirts for vehicle carpeting. Ford also teamed up with Coca-Cola on plant-based plastics.