Any company fleet wishing to address its emissions should start with mileage says Rupert Russell, publisher of www.comcar.co.uk, a specialist company car tax website.
The burning of fossil fuels is one cause of a steady rise in greenhouse gases that now threatens catastrophic climate change within a few generations.
Companies are becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their operations though it can be hard to make improvements and still harder to measure.
Some standard benchmarks need to be found and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are a good start. Since 1998 UK cars have an official emissions figure based on grams of CO2 emitted per kilometre driven, and this helps to provide a key measure (unfortunately vans and lorries cannot be readily measured as the legislators are some way off agreeing upon an appropriate system).
Mileage
Any company fleet wishing to address its emissions should start with mileage. To get the whole picture all mileages should be compared from the base period to current and future periods. Include, if possible, mileages from:
- Company cars – business use.
- Company cars – private use.
- Private cars on mileage allowance.
- Commercials.
- Rail.
- Air.
All types of travel need to be taken into account, since a reduction in one category is of little use if other types then expand. Comparisons from one period to another will also vary according to the business, and so it is common to measure mileage per full time employee.
Fuel usage per mile
Fuel usage is closely correlated with emissions and should be measured against mileage of each category of company vehicle. This will provide evidence of the success of any moves to get employees to drive more carefully or to use more efficient vehicles. Most companies find that it is far easier to get a percentage point drop in mileage than it is to get a one per cent drop in fuel usage per mile.
