PHH Arval of Sparks, Md., recently conducted its annual industry-wide survey of public and private sector fleet managers on the subject of the environment.
The survey was designed to gauge fleet managers' awareness of environmental issues and barriers to implementing solutions that would reduce their fleets' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The results concluded:

• Corporate interest in the environment continues to grow. Asked to rate how their organizations' interest in the environment has changed over the past year, 80% of the surveyed fleet managers reported that interest in their fleets' environmental impact continues to grow at their organizations, up slightly from last year (77%). However, there is still work to be done: according to the survey, almost 15% of private sector fleet managers said the environmental impact of their fleets is not a priority at their organization.

• Few companies use best practices when setting environmental goals for their fleets. PHH has found that a key best practice for environmental effectiveness is to set greenhouse gas (GHG) goals for fleet performance. A GHG goal allows fleet managers to track improvements in fuel efficiency, account for the impact of business changes on emissions, and assess the impact of driver behavior programs. However, according to the PHH survey, only 25% of survey respondents have GHG goals for their fleets. The PHH survey found that most companies do not measure greenhouse emissions from their fleets - only 28% of the respondents said they were doing so.

• A significant number of organizations are finding cost-effective ways to reduce fleet emissions.
The most encouraging finding from the survey is that more than a third of fleet managers are finding ways to save money while reducing fleet emissions (37% in the private sector and 39% in the public sector). For remaining private sector companies, 50% continue to view cost as an obstacle, but this is down from last year's survey. In the public sector, the concern about cost has remained relatively flat.

• Most fleet managers (68%) reported they have started to educate drivers about their impact on the environment. While the majority of fleet managers have communicated to drivers about their ability to reduce the environmental impact of their company-provided vehicles, public sector fleet managers are way ahead of their private sector counterparts. Currently 42% of all private sector fleet managers are not doing any communications to their drivers around the role they play in fleet emissions.

"We are encouraged that so many companies are finding ways to reduce fleet emissions without increasing costs," says Karen Healey, PHH Arval director in charge of the company's green initiatives. "But there is still a lot of room for improvement, particularly around goal setting. The PHH GreenFleet program, developed in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund, is designed to help clients set appropriate goals, track results, and identify cost-effective ways to reduce emissions."