GreenFleet

The inaugural European Greenfleet® Awards, which took place at the HUSA President Park Hotel in Brussels on 5 June, recognised private and public sector organisations that have made efforts to reduce the environmental impact of motoring across Europe. 

Held in the heart of Brussels during European Green Week, and sponsored by Toyota, the awards ceremony was presented by Malcolm Harbour, MEP - UK West Midlands Region and Ms Alenka Burja from the Ministry of the Environment & Spatial Planning, Slovenia.

WINNERS
European Car Manufacturer of the Year
´Toyota Motor Europe
Toyota's approach to emissions is to explore a broad variety of solutions. The iconic Toyota Prius is now sold in 40 countries, and has taken top spot in the influential JD Power 'What Car?' customer satisfaction survey.

European LCV Manufacturer of the Year
´Aixam Mega
Particularly suited for use in the city, Aixam's Multitruck provides a cost effective and environmentally friendly solution in many diverse applications, and for many businesses.

European LGV Manufacturer of the Year
´Volvo Trucks
Over the years, Volvo Trucks has achieved a number of pioneering breakthroughs, and is leading the way in bringing cleaner technology to market. Its efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its trucks are made up of several initiatives, including a hybrid concept that can accelerate under electric power alone.

European Private Sector Fleet of the Year
´Deutsche Post Group, Germany
Deutsche Post has adopted a corporate green logistics programme aiming at reducing CO2 emissions by 30 per cent by 2020. This includes trials with hybrid vehicles, and with advanced regenerative fuels such as biomass-to-liquid (BtL) or biogas.

European Private Sector Innovation
´ARGE MR Pflanzenöl OÖ, Austria
ARGE MR Pflanzenöl OÖ is a collective of seven oil mills and some 1,800 regional farmers that produce rapeseed crops with which to manufacture biodiesel. Every mill is run as a business concern, giving the population an opportunity to produce a crop that can be grown on areas that would otherwise remain fallow.

European Public Sector Fleet of the Year
´London Borough of Islington - UK
The council's entire diesel fleet has been running on UK sourced bio-diesel for nearly two years, and it is currently piloting a scheme using pure plant oils straight from the source on four buses and two refuse vehicles. Its expanding electric fleet of scooters and cars is powered by renewable energy using  photovoltaic cells and wind turbines. Award winning cycle schemes and bus lanes to improve public transport have been implemented.

European Public Sector Innovation
´City of Stockholm, Sweden
The City of Stockholm initiated the Clean Vehicles project, with the objective of reaching a market breakthrough for cleaner vehicles. This encouraged involvement from the whole chain - fuel providers, vehicle manufacturers and end-users. After ten years, the project has
yielded impressive results.

European Fleet Manager of the Year - Private Sector
´Zoe Powers, Greater London Hire
Zoe Powers of Greater London Hire advocates a multi-stranded approach to environmental management. A thorough assessment of emissions has enabled the company to reduce them by a staggering 22 per cent.

European Fleet Manager of the Year – Public Sector
´Chris Rutherford - London Borough Islington
The local authority has the first 'stop start technology' buses on order from Mercedes and has used a proportion of its climate change fund to implement the retro-fitting of these systems, as well hybrid technology, into its van fleet.

European Leasing/Rental Company of the Year
´Elektracar, Spain
To alleviate the problems of noise, pollution and driver aggression that the Balearic island of Formentera suffers during the summer months, the winner has demonstrated that it is possible to move around the island with clean, quiet vehicles which bring a calming effect to traffic.

Industry Innovation Award
´CityCargo, Netherlands
Amsterdam's inner city has narrow, traffic-laden canals and streets, which can make deliveries difficult. CityCargo has developed a concept for zero emission cargo distribution using the existing tram infrastructure to replace inefficient trucks by trams and electrically operated vehicles.

Outstanding Achievement Award
´Gilles Michel, Citroën
Gilles Michel has been Executive Vice President of Automobiles Citroën for PSA Peugeot Citroën since February 2007 and also serves as its Chief Executive Officer of Automobiles Citroën. In 2004, as Executive Vice President, Platforms, Technical Affairs and Purchasing, he was responsible for overseeing the introduction of stop and start technology.

The 2009 European GreenFleet® Awards will be held on 25 June. Entry will be open from October.