July 7, 2009
PHH Study Reveals Cost Barrier for Fleet Emission Reductions
A recent study of public and private sector fleet managers about the environment reveals that cost continues to be a barrier to reducing fleet carbon emissions. Forty-four percent of respondents said cost was a barrier, and 54 percent said it was the top challenge in “greening” their fleets. However, 24 percent report they have found cost savings as they reduce emissions.
The annual green survey (registration required) conducted by PHH Arval, a subsidiary of PHH Corp., gauges fleet managers’ insights into environmental issues and solutions regarding their company vehicles and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Another key finding shows that 21 percent of the respondents said that economic conditions had accelerated their fleet environmental goals, while only 9 percent said the economy slowed their efforts.
The study also indicates that interest in environmental issues remains strong and the perception of “green” vehicles is changing. Seventy-four percent of respondents reported they had been asked about the environmental impact of their fleets in the last year, and 100 percent of respondents who identified “fleet management” as their full time job said they had been asked about the environmental impact of the fleet.
This year, the survey included new questions to determine how widespread certain perceptions are of “green” vehicles. The findings: 82 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement, “Fuel efficient vehicles are less safe.” And 56 percent disagreed with the statement, “Fuel efficient vehicles are less attractive to our drivers and executives.”
The PHH GreenFleet program, developed in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund, recently added telematics data to the PHH Onboard service to help companies cut their emissions.
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Reader Comments
Environmental Leader’s headline on the perception of costs in reducing fleet emissions in this article is unfortunate. As the PHH survey clearly notes, 24% of fleets have been finding cost savings as they reduce emissions. Further, the fleets that have fully participated in PHH GreenFleet, the fleet industry’s first comprehensive greenhouse gas management program – which was developed in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund – have seen a four percent reduction in lifecycle operating costs while reducing emissions by 14%. Clearly, there remain opportunities for fleets to reduce costs and emissions.
I wrote a post on the EDF Innovation Exchange blog (http://blogs.edf.org/innovation/2009/07/07/new-survey-shows-jump-in-fleets-measuring-emissions/) that highlights some of the more positive outcomes of the survey, including the percentage of fleets that claimed to be measuring their greenhouse gas emissions, which is 40%, a significant jump from the 28% reported in 2008.
Jason Mathers | July 9th, 2009