More than 50% of fleets don’t measure their environmental performance, with just 31% having a formal environmental policy in place, according to new research commissioned by Volvo.
The firm found fleets of 51+ cars were more likely to have an environmental policy in place at 43%, while just 13% of fleets with 10 cars or less have a formal policy in place.
Those figures compare poorly with other areas of a business’s operation, with 97% having initiatives to improve recycling, 89% encouraging employees to be more energy efficient and 43% designing buildings to be more energy efficient, according to the Volvo Driv-e Report 2010. .
Despite the lack of an overall fleet environmental policy, 70% of fleets have introduced at least four measures to mitigate their vehicles’ environmental impact. 85% of those have switched from petrol to diesel and just over half offer employees reasons to choose less harmful vehicles while 45% of fleet managers monitor driving patterns for efficiency and 29% benchmark environmental performance.
“We believe that we are now at an environmental milestone in fleet management,” said Volvo Car UK president Peter Rask. “Everyone now realises the importance of reducing CO2, and while there is still a long way to go, the research results show that almost all fleets have now put in place policies.”
“We urge fleets to take a broad brush approach to reducing their environmental impact,” he said.
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