Climate change remains a contentious subject. While some lawmakers and voters may doubt the validity of scientific arguments, Ford Motors knows exactly where it stands, says executive Nancy Gioia: "We think climate change is real." And, with Gioia’s help, the auto company hopes to make it a thing of the past.

Gioia never thought she would be working for one of the nation’s leading automakers. In fact, the 48-year-old originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but says she didn’t have it in her: "I decided that actually having to maybe give shots to things, just was not in my DNA." Always fond of math and science, Gioia decided to pursue engineering at the University of Michigan and Stanford University, and she received a Master of Sciences in Manufacturing Systems Engineering. After graduation, she joined Ford Motors’s then-emerging electronics division. She’s been with the company ever since, and now, 26 years on, has quite the title: “Director of Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid Vehicle Programs.”

“It’s a wraparound business card,” she joked during a recent interview. Mouthful or not, Gioia’s leading the legendary auto company’s eco-friendly crusade to roll out hybrid and fuel-efficient cars — a project that’s as important for her business as it is for the world. With an estimated $7 billion a year budgeted for such projects, Ford Motors intends to change the way the nation drives. To that end, the company rolled out their Ford Escape in 2004. That vehicle, the first SUV hybrid, harnessed new technology to improve fuel efficiency and, in turn, the environment.

Hybrids, as readers may or may not know, combine fuel and battery power to synergize the cleanest energy use – and fewest emissions – possible, but they’re hardly the only option on the green table. In addition to their existing line fleet, Ford is currently researching cars that run entirely on batteries; those cars, however, may be a long way off. Asked to name the biggest obstacles she and her team face, Gioia didn’t hesitate: “We’re challenged with the cost. The cost of batteries, the cost of the electronics, motors, etc., is very high. And it exceeds the revenue for just hybridization that you get.”

Though Gioia’s coming from a business perspective, others approach the matter from an environmental perspective, and worry that a fleet of battery-operated vehicles will strain power plants and result in even greater carbon-dioxide emissions. Gioia asserts there’s nothing to worry about: “If everybody added to that load and plugged their vehicles in, or made their demand at that same time, yes, you could run into an issue.” And that, some worry, will end up increasing carbon-dioxide production. But if people act responsibly, says Gioia, battery-powered vehicles could, overall, be the best solution to harnessing unused power in the United States:

You don’t turn power plants on and off with a light switch. They don’t like to do that.  They like to run at some minimum level. And so there’s extra electricity being produced and that electricity is what they call fungible. It’s either use it or lose it. And this is where batteries become revolutionary, both for cars and the utility industry: It allows us now to store that energy, rather than just losing it if there’s no demand. You’re basically using energy that is already being produced, and the utility grid is becoming more efficient.

Carbon-dioxide production isn’t the only battery-related environmental concern. There’s also the matter of mining.