Going green – why it has to be the answer

Going green – why it has to be the answer

Posted by

Martin Brown

October 2015

going-green

I think I’m going on a bit of green theme here – and as the trees turn autumnally red, why not?

My last blog was on five of my favourite Electric Vehicles to clean the air, but if your fleet hasn’t had Electric Vehicles – or EVs – before, how do you make sure your fleet goes green?

Is it okay just to have one EV on the fleet? Or should we be doing more? What are the steps?

There are many reasons to consider reducing the impact of car fleets on the environment.

Firstly, the issue of global warming is very real – food shortages, as well as civil unrest, have caused mass migration. We see the harrowing headlines in the news every day.

The ocean is warming, too, and while collapsing icebergs are typical of the images we see, it’s those that we don’t that are really telling, such as the reduction in sea fauna – which reduces oxygen in the water.

Recent reports suggest that air pollution from outdoor sources kills a shocking 3.3 million people per year.

According to the WWF’s Living Blue Planet Report seagrass coverage has declined by about 30 per cent over the past century.Closer to home there’s the prospect of operational impact – such as the banning of diesels from city centres, as studies look into the effect of emissions on health.Recent reports suggest that air pollution from outdoor sources kills a shocking 3.3 million people per year. Plus, those numbers are likely to double even if air quality legislation is put in place.

These are issues that fleet managers must now start considering. Because they will impact in the future.

So how can your fleet play a part in going green?

Even if you consider the global warming issue is overblown, the business case for greener fleets is a compelling one. Consider these factors:

  • Lower costs
  • Reduced fuel bills
  • Lower company car taxation for employers
  • Reduced Class 1a National Insurance to pay

These are all worthwhile objectives for any fleet. And can be achieved by going green.

But how do you do it?

Well, we can help you through the multitude of choices to enable you to make the best decisions for your business, from EVs and Plug-ins to Hybrid and Hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicles.

How will we do this?

As part of our environmental fleet initiative, eco-Fleet, we’d advise any business thinking of making a change to check out our White Paper – Going, Going, Green – that not only outlines the issues, but also looks at the fuel choices and the steps towards turning your fleet green, which dovetails business use to car choice.

It’s definitely worth a read. Indeed, over the last six years eco-Fleet has helped reduce the CO2 emissions of our clients’ fleet by an average of 13% – a total CO2 reduction of over 12.4 billion grams.

But there’s always room to do more.

Any environmental steps we take, however small they might seem, can have a larger impact when aggregated. So that’s why it’s worth taking those first steps to going green now.


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