A new report commissioned by GreenPeace suggests that corporate fleet managers have more power over the composition of our atmosphere than most politicians or oil executives. So how can the humble fleet manager exercise such power?

Due to their major role in the transport sector – which is responsible for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions – fleet managers in Europe could save millions of tonnes of CO2 and €28 billion a year, by opting for cleaner vehicles and other efficiency measures.
   
This was the verdict of a new report called ‘Saving fuel, saving costs’, which was conducted by analysts CE Delft for global charity Greenpeace. It implies that corporate fleet managers have more power over the composition of our atmosphere than most politicians, or even most oil executives.

Transport is responsible for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, and Road transport accounts for 72-81 per cent of the transport sector’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. Europe’s corporate fleets produce around 380Mt CO2e annually, significantly more than the entire emissions of Spain. Air pollution causes more than 29,000 premature deaths in the UK every year — that’s 10 times the number killed in road accidents – and the majority of this pollution is from road transport [1].

The power of fleets
Improving the efficiency of road vehicles can seem an uphill challenge, with millions of separate consumer decisions involved. However, fleet operators are responsible for 50 per cent of new car purchases in Europe, and 54 per cent in the UK, and can facilitate the shift to cleaner cars for private drivers, as well as improving the efficiency of freight transport.
   
A large proportion of a country’s road transport fleet will be made up of company vehicles, and a high percentage of new vehicle sales will be for corporate use. In the EU nearly all heavy goods vehicles, most light commercial vehicles, and about half of all new passenger cars are purchased by companies or other fleet owners.

These vehicles use a vast amount of fuel. Corporate fleets (company cars, HGVs and LCVs) in Europe spend nearly €200 billion on fuel every year. The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is about €600 billion per year.

In all, the EU’s entire corporate fleet is responsible for approximately 45 per cent of emissions from road transport, and therefore eight per cent of total EU GHG emissions.
   
Company cars are often sold on to private buyers after a few years and remain on the road for many more, so the influence of the corporate fleet on emissions is greater than these figures suggest.
   
Greenpeace Senior Climate campaigner Barbara Stoll said: “Fleet managers have a surprising amount of power over all of our futures, and with the rapid progress being made in clean tech, they can use that power for good, and on a grand scale. Hopefully the enormous potential cost savings will help – instead of asking for sacrifices, we’re just asking them to sacrifice a bit less to oil companies.”

What can be done?
The report covers a wide variety of different approaches to reducing fuel consumption and the potential savings available.

Choosing more fuel efficient conventional cars. This has a significant potential for reducing GHG emissions against low or often even negative costs. Furthermore, choosing low resistance tyres for all cars is also a cost effective measure that saves fuel and money.

Adopting alternative powertrains, like full electric or plug-in hybrid cars, can reduce emissions even further. Investment costs are significantly higher, but are often offset by tax benefits or subsidies. In some countries, for vehicles with sufficiently high mileages, the total fuel savings are earned back within the vehicle’s lifetime. Unlike full electric, the driving range of plug-in hybrids is not limited by battery capacity. They require additional arrangements to make sure that drivers charge as often as possible which is needed for harvesting the full fuel saving potential.

Measures encouraging fuel efficient driving behaviour can also be effective. As well as offering initial eco-driving courses to employees, it is essential to follow-up with monitoring, feedback and additional incentives, like a competition or financial bonus/malus scheme. Such an approach can improve fuel efficiency from two to more than 20 per cent per year. Alongside saving fuel, eco-driving can also bring down accident rates and maintenance costs.

Teleworking and teleconferencing can save significant amounts of time and money spent on travel. Teleworking for one day a week reduces CO2 emissions by an average of 14 per cent and can save €2,000 per employee per year. A modal shift from cars to alternative transport modes in business and commuting travel can be stimulated in various ways, including financial incentives and travel card schemes. For example, offering multimodal business travel cards to employees can reduce company car kilometres by seven per cent.

Freight fleets
There are many ways to reduce the fuel consumption and emissions of HGVs and LCVs. Just as for cars, using less petrol and diesel will save a company money and reduce its environmental impact.

The report suggests choosing the most fuel efficient conventional vehicle. In addition, retrofitting vehicles, particularly trucks, can make them much more efficient. Emissions from HGVs can be reduced by one-to-four per cent with a single measure to improve aerodynamics – by combing measures much higher reductions can be achieved and many measures have a relatively short payback time.

Purchasing alternative powertrains can reduce emissions even further. The first full electric and plug-in hybrid trucks have entered the market and electric vans are also available. Emissions from HGVs can be reduced by 8-30 per cent with full hybridisation. Purchase costs are much higher than for conventional vehicles but, with significant reductions in fuel costs and subsidies in some countries, the difference in the TCO is decreasing and in some cases becoming (close to) competitive. Other alternatives are CNG or LNG drivetrains, which usually have lower investment costs but also lower emissions reduction potential (up to 20 per cent).

Eco-driving programmes can again have a significant impact for freight vehicles. This kind of behaviour change can produce immediate fuel savings of up to 20 per cent and long-term savings of five-to-seven per cent. Monitoring and feedback to drivers is crucial to maintain the positive effects. Various co-benefits can be expected, including lower accident rates and maintenance costs.
   
Reducing freight vehicle kilometres can also contribute to lower GHG emissions. This can be done by modal shift or increasing the logistical efficiency. Real world examples show that improved logistical efficiency can reduce emissions by 4-20 per cent. A shift to alternative transport modes (inland navigation or rail transport) can have even much higher GHG reduction potentials, but these are very case specific.

Trains for transport
Trains have been utilised by Tesco, who have already begun reducing both emissions and fuel costs.
   
Andrew Woolfenden, Tesco’s distribution director, said: “At Tesco we have reduced our transport emissions per case delivered to stores by 16 per cent since 2011. We have done this through moving more product by rail and double decker vehicles and we are committed to delivering further reductions each year. By focusing our efforts in reducing emissions, it has a positive impact on the environment we live in, and continues driving further efficiencies in our business.”
   
Andy Eastlake, managing director of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) welcomed the report saying: “In the UK, 90 per cent of new vans and over half of all new cars were bought by companies in 2014. Combine this with the fact that, on average, company cars travel more than twice the miles of private cars and it’s clear that the fleet sector is responsible for most of road transport’s impact on climate change.
   
“Greenpeace’s report highlights the wide range of technical and operational opportunities for businesses to improve both their carbon footprint as well as their ‘bottom line’.”
   
For SMEs and other businesses using light commercial vehicles, the LowCVP is today launching a Low Emission Van Guide and web tool, to give direct practical guidance to fleet managers choosing between different models and drivetrains in different circumstances. LowCVP’s analysis shows that choosing the correct van can save a business an astonishing £18,000 over the vehicle’s lifespan.
   
The two reports are being released together in order to provide fleet managers with as much data as possible to support their vehicle and logistics planning.

Further information
Greenpeace report: tinyurl.com/oz7v5av
LowCVP van guide: tinyurl.com/qa6ez4g