After making fleet policy changes designed to influence both vehicle choice and
driver behaviour, leading paper and printer supply merchants, the James
McNaughton Group, have reduced fuel expenditure by up to £2,500 per car and
made significant carbon savings.
Implementing the recommendations of an Energy Saving Trust Green Fleet
Review has seen the Kent-based company, with operations across the UK and
Ireland, incorporate a range of environmentally-friendly transport initiatives into
its wider corporate social responsibility strategy. These include:
- Ensuring drivers on the employee car ownership scheme opt for a diesel,
hybrid or bio-fuel car capable of a minimum 37 mpg when they next change
their vehicle (that figure is expected to rise in 2008/9 to a minimum 42 mpg,
with a cap on individual vehicle CO2 emissions also under consideration)
- Introducing an eco-driving and journey planning drivers guide, featuring
Energy Saving Trust top-10 tips
- Installing telephone and video conferencing facilities and encouraging the
use of public transport to reduce mileage
- Capturing data to enable comprehensive and ongoing analysis of fuel usage
and miles driven
Sustainable solution programme
Reducing emissions from vehicle use is just one of a range of environmental
priorities for the James McNaughton Group, which has put in place a farreaching
programme of ‘sustainable solutions’ designed to reduce its corporate
carbon footprint.
The company has signed up to a green energy tariff, ensuring 100 per cent of
their electricity supply comes from renewable energy sources. Complementing
this, a wind turbine is planned to generate electricity for the logistics site.
A lighting control system has also been commissioned for the warehouses and
main office buildings and is expected to reduce actual energy usage by up to
30 per cent per annum.
As one of the leading suppliers of recycled paper products, the company offers
carbon neutral products by investing in carbon offsetting projects.
Data collection vital
While the company knew what it wanted to achieve, it admitted that it was
unsure where to start with ‘greening’ its fleet.
That was where the Energy Saving Trust Green Fleet Review service came to
the rescue. By highlighting the need to collate data on fuel consumption and
mileage, the review focused on implementing administrative processes before
making practical changes.
By adopting the approach ‘if you don’t measure it, you can’t monitor it’, the
company discovered the following information:
- Car drivers clocked up 3.9 million miles a year
- Fuel spend totalled £477,000 a year
- Car carbon emissions were 1,400 tonnes, an average of 6.9 tonnes per car
Thousands of pounds saved
Following the review, more than 69 cars have been changed and the fleet
profile is now 60 per cent diesel.
Total business mileage has been cut by 107,000 miles, despite 17 cars being
added to the fleet in 2006. In 2007 annual fuel costs were reduced by more
than £86,000, and an estimated 245 tonnes of CO2 emissions cut. Drivers are
also benefiting because they are saving money on the fuel tax they pay on their
private mileage.
In addition, the company’s logistics operation has spent the last few years
implementing better route planning and reduced its fleet by 43 vehicles,
cutting road mileage by over one million miles per year and carbon emissions
by 975 tonnes.
These impressive results contributed to the James McNaughton Group being
named Runner-Up in the Business Mileage category at the 2007 Energy Saving
Trust Fleet Hero Awards, in association with The Observer and Fleet News.
The next steps
The company operates six light commercial delivery vehicles in six major cities
and in 2008 the London and Belfast vehicles will be replaced with electric vans.
This is the start of a long term plan to replace all diesel vans with zero emission
electric vehicles. Options for tackling the 2,934 tonnes of carbon emissions coming
from the company’s fleet of 121 HGV diesel vehicles are also being investigated.
Energy Saving Trust guidance and advice essential
For Howard Browning, Director of Corporate Responsibility at the James
McNaughton Group, support received from the Energy Saving Trust was
crucial for implementing change.
He said: “The first step was looking at the website and downloading casestudies.
Inspired, I picked up the phone to arrange a face-to-face meeting with
a Key Account Manager. Not long after, the Green Fleet Review was booked
and an independent consultant was appointed to draw up recommendations
for improving all aspects of fleet operations. The whole process was very easy
and efficient.
“The review obliged us to look, in incredible detail, at every aspect of the fleet
and its operation. We didn’t have much of the required information so we went
on a huge data-gathering mission. I can’t pretend that it did not take time and
effort to put the reporting and monitoring system in place, but as subsequent
updating is now very quick and easy, it was certainly worth the effort.
“Today, I can summon up a spreadsheet which displays facts and figures for
every car in the fleet, the miles-per-gallon achieved, individual and combined
carbon emissions, the number of petrol station stops per month, the price
paid at the pumps and the average cost per mile – all with comparisons to
previous periods.
“What the Energy Saving Trust showed us was that we could achieve significant
financial and environmental benefits by developing a ‘green’ fleet policy which
influences both vehicle choice and driver behaviour.”