EST announce new partnership to boost fleet sustainability
News
6 Sep 2013
The Energy Saving Trust and Enterprise Rent-A-Car are working together to help companies improve the sustainability of business travel in the UK.
The partnership will focus on promoting four four DfT funded services to Enterprise customers, including a fleet health check, which is particularly suited to small businesses. It is an online tool that provides organisations with an accurate business transport carbon footprint together with advice on reducing costs and emissions. Organisations will be able to apply for a review that will assess the suitability plug-in or electric vehicles, followed up by regular updates on the latest developments.
Energy Saving Trust consultants can also provide a review of grey fleet, suggesting viable alternatives and helping to introduce behavioural change programmes, together with green fleet consultancy services for larger organisations.
The Energy Saving Trust and Enterprise have worked together before. Back in 2010, they, in conjunction with GFleet, helped Woking Borough Council identify its grey fleet as a significant issue and introduce a ‘virtual’ car pool near its head offices, that has cut its CO2 footprint for employee business travel by 37 per cent and reduced grey fleet mileage by around 25 per cent, saving the council thousands of pounds, without affecting its services to the local community.
David Johnson, Corporate Strategy Manager, Woking Borough Council, said: “Without help from the Energy Saving Trust and GFleet right from the outset we would not have had such a clear picture of where the issues were with our use of vehicles. The GFleet Review nailed down what we could change and why it made sense.
“We made a number of changes, in particular by introducing the Enterprise CarShare programme, and now we can see clear, measurable results. I believe most organisations could benefit from the services offered by the Energy Saving Trust.”
Andrew Benfield, Head of Transport Services, Energy Saving Trust, said: “We know companies want help with car fleets and mobility, but they don’t always know where to turn. Many don’t realise the range of services that are available to them through the Energy Saving Trust and the impact these can have.
“We’ve worked with organisations that have seen a major turnaround in their fleet costs and carbon footprint by using our products to measure what is really going on and then thinking more widely about the alternatives. With a national network that is within a few miles of nearly everyone in the country, Enterprise is well placed to help us reach every business in the UK.”
In related news, the Energy Saving Trust has recently introduced a variation on its Smarter Driving training programme that includes a demonstration of both daily and weekly vehicle checks to help improve driver safety. The new Smarter Driving & Vehicle Check training provides drivers with clear and pragmatic advice to drivers to help them take responsibility for highlighting vehicle issues and to understand the potential risks of not carrying out daily and weekly vehicle checks.
The Energy Saving Trust’s Smarter Driving training has helped over 35,000 fleet drivers reduce their fuel consumption and associated carbon emissions by over 14 per cent. Its services aimed at improving business fleet efficiency are primarily focused on England, due to the high availability of funding for similar programmes in Scotland.
