Measure and manage your fleet CO2

CO2 reporting is rising up the fleet agenda thanks to the new greenhouse gas emissions regulation. Sarah Tooze looks at how to manage CO2 data.

Emissions reporting is moving from being voluntary to compulsory for fleet operators as a result of recent legislation.

Under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors Report) Regulations 2013, which came into effect in October last year, publicly quoted companies have to publish their greenhouse gas emissions in their annual directors’ report.

The regulation is expected to be extended to all large companies from 2016.

Large companies are generally classified as meeting two of three criteria: employing more than 250 people, a turnover above £22.8million or gross assets above £11.4million.

Greenhouse gas emissions reporting provides “fresh impetus” for fleet CO2 reductions, according to GE Capital’s Fleet Services division.

Gary Killeen, fleet services commercial leader for GE Capital UK, says: “Clearly, CO2 reduction has been a core focus of fleet activity for more than a decade and has been especially important since the onset of the credit crunch in minimising driver taxation, fuel spend and CO2 output.

“However, the new regulations create even more of an emphasis on CO2. Companies will want to be seen to be as environmentally responsible as possible or at least to be performing competitively compared to their peers.”

But even companies not yet affected by the regulation can benefit from the CO2 reports generated by fleet management software.

It’s not simply about knowing the emissions figures of vehicles, it’s about understanding past emissions trends and predicting future ones, and having the data at hand to make key environmental decisions.

Fleet management software can help fleet operators to identify which cost centres have the highest emitting vehicles and which vehicles have CO2 emissions or fuel consumption figures that are well adrift of official figures.

If a company has a CO2 emissions cap, fleet software can be used to decide whether it is the right level.

The data can help companies decide which vehicles should be replaced and when, and which type of vehicles need to be added to the fleet to lower emissions.

If mileage data is fed into the system, companies can also assess whether a vehicle is needed at all.