GreenFleet

Davis Langdon works towards ISO14001 with EST

Davis Langdon has embarked on a major programme to reduce emissions for its fleet and is working towards achieving international environmental standard ISO14001.

The UK based organisation is a leading international project and cost consultancy, providing managed solutions for clients investing in infrastructure, property and construction – with environmental management a key focus.

With company car drivers and own-car users travelling more than three million miles a year – many in high emissionn vehicles – the Energy Saving Trust was called in for advice.

As a result Davis Langdon have benchmarked the company car choice list against the existing Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) bands to incentivise drivers to opt for low emission vehicles. It is among the first organisations to take steps to axe use of privately-owned vehicles on business (otherwise know as grey fleet).

Green Fleet Review recommendations implemented so far include:

• Cash incentives to encourage 258 staff company car drivers and 195 cash opt-out employees to drive cars falling in VED bands A–D (165 g/km of CO2 or below)

• Up to 1,350 grey fleet drivers using public transport or a company paid for hire car instead of their own vehicle

• Financial penalties for company partners (187 in total) if they select a company car above VED band D

• Vehicles driven on company business to have at least a four star European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) crash test rating

• Driver licence validation checks

• Video conferencing to reduce vehicle mileage

‘Root and branch’ fleet review
Davis Langdon found out about the Energy Saving Trust’s Green Fleet Review when Neil Ashton, the company’s Head of Procurement and Supplier Management saw an advertisement in Fleet News. At the time he had already started to undertake a fleet review internally, with input from the organisation’s Foresight Group, which was investigating sustainability options for the company.

Neil explained: “As I began examining the whole lifecycle of our fleet, I thought about the relationship between CO2emissions, the cost of fuel and residual values. I feared long-term second-hand values of gas-guzzlers could reduce.
“I contacted the Energy Saving Trust so one of their consultants could carry out a Green Fleet Review. I wanted the review to provide a snapshot of where we were, give some credibility to my thinking, and also come up with some ideas.

“I ended up with a series of recommendations from both the Energy Saving Trust and our own Foresight Group, which were both pulling in the same direction in terms of helping us to reduce our carbon footprint.”

To download this case study in PDF Format, click here

To find out more visit www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/fleet or call 0845 602 1425