July 2007, Business Fleet - Feature
The Green Advantage
By Chris Brown
Companies now see “going green” as a business strategy – an opportunity to reduce risk, cut costs, burnish image and even increase competitive advantage. PHH Arval recently conducted a survey of public and private sector managers on environmental issues as they relate to fleet. Key findings from this survey follow. For more information visit phharval.com or call 800 ONLY PHH.
Exploring opportunities to green a fleet
Government fleet managers are significantly ahead of their private sector counterparts when it comes to greening their fleets. While right-sizing was the top strategy looked at by government fleet managers, it came in fourth with corporate fleet managers.
Hybrids topped the list among private sectors. Historically, hybrids have had limited availability and price premiums. Not surprisingly, greenhouse gas offsets were the least explored option. With increased media coverage on this topic, this is starting to change.
Barriers to improving environmental performance of fleet
Eighty-nine percent of corporate fleet managers and 79 percent of government fleet managers who looked at hybrids cited costs and availability of appropriate vehicles as barriers.
Human factors were smaller, but still significant. Driver attitudes were more of an issue for government fleets (35 percent vs. 18 percent), and lack of executive interest was more of an issue in the private sector (20 percent vs. 12 percent.
More tools needed
In order to develop a successful fleet environmental program, companies need to understand their fleets’ environmental footprints and be able to measure the impact of the changes they make to the fleet. However, more than half of corporate fleet managers said they do not have the tools they need to measure environmental changes to the fleet.
Large numbers of managers also reported they do not have the tools to select the best vehicles and to influence driver behavior, both key components of improving the environmental performance of a fleet.