Sustainability has become a hot topic of conversation in the fleet industry. More fleet businesses are working to address climate change by adopting sustainable business practices and making environmentally conscious choices. What sustainable options are there, and what do they mean for fleets? We’ll explore more about what sustainability is and how it affects fleets now and in the future.
What is Fleet Sustainability?
We know that sustainability involves minimizing our impact on the environment. For a fleet, this means implementing fleet management strategies toward accomplishing this goal. Some of these practices include using alternative fuel, route planning software, prioritizing fleet maintenance, and eliminating wasteful behavior.
Fleet Emissions Statistics
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that between 1990 and 2020, the transportation sector was one of the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. It contributed to 27% of overall emissions. This made it the largest contributor — electricity was 25%, and industry was 24%.
Within the transportation sector, vehicles were the most significant problem. The data breaks down as follows:
- 57% light-duty vehicles
- 26% medium- and heavy-duty trucks
- 8% aircraft
- 5% other
- 2% rail
- 2% ships and boats
This data shows that if the transportation sector can lower its emissions, it would improve our environmental impact overall.
5 Ways to Boost Your Fleet’s Sustainability
Creating a sustainable fleet is beneficial for everyone. It also generates a better reputation for your business, allowing you to contribute positively to your community. We briefly mentioned some ways to boost sustainability earlier. Let’s explore those in more detail now.
- Switch to Alternative Fuel Vehicles: Electric, hybrid, and compressed natural gas vehicles have far less environmental impact. Switching to these vehicles is an investment. It costs money initially, but you’ll save money and do more good in the long run.
- Telematics: Telematics allows you to track driver behavior. Some driver behaviors like idling and speeding waste fuel. For every two minutes your drivers spend idling, your vehicle could have traveled a mile. Additionally, for every five miles per hour your drivers travel over 50 mph, you pay an additional $0.20 per gallon of gas. With telematics, you can set policies limiting speeding and idling and more easily enforce them.
- Upgrade Vehicles: We discussed upgrading to electric or hybrid vehicles, but you’re not out of luck if you can’t go this far. Simply upgrading to newer vehicles can improve your efficiency. Older vehicles are not as fuel-efficient as newer models– even upgrading from a 2016 model to a 2021 can make a significant difference, reducing CO2 by 21 metric tons.
- Maintain Vehicles: Having a new vehicle isn’t enough. You have to keep your vehicles well-maintained to ensure their efficiency. Preventative maintenance can help you identify and quickly repair problems that lead to higher emissions. Dirty air filters are among the biggest causes of high emissions rates and malfunctioning emissions control systems.
- Offset Your Emissions: Offsetting your emissions is a process that involves first tracking your fleet’s emissions. Then, you neutralize these emissions through environmental programs that improve the planet. We will discuss more about offsetting emissions in the next section.
Azuga’s Sustainability Program
Azuga can help you become a greener fleet. Accomplish this with us by tracking driver behavior to eliminate wasteful habits and setting up maintenance alerts so your vehicles consistently operate at full efficiency. However, this won’t entirely eliminate your emissions. You can neutralize your remaining emissions with our carbon emissions offset program. Azuga has partnered with GreenerMiles to create a telematics-enabled program that calculates and tracks your fleet’s emissions, then neutralizes them with a custom carbon offset portfolio. Learn more about our sustainability program to start helping our planet today. Also, check out our other blog articles and reading materials about sustainability and related issues.
- Fleet Sustainability Ebook
- How Alternative Fuels Can Save You Money at the Pump – Jul. 6th, 2021
- How Azuga can Help Meet Your Sustainability Goals – Aug. 27th, 2021
- Fleet Electrification: Everything You Need to Know – May 30th, 2022
