The Energy Saving Trust and Enterprise Rent-A-Car are joining forces to offer companies better access to a suite of products, services and consultancy to help them improve the sustainability of UK business travel.

With funding from the Department for Transport (DfT), the Energy Saving Trust offers an innovative range of options to help businesses analyse how they use vehicles and identify ways to increase fuel efficiency.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car will increase uptake by providing its corporate and public sector customers with access to these services, which include fleet consultancy, reviews and fleet health check.

Adrian Bewley, director of business rental at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said: "Businesses need to travel in order to achieve their goals, but they know that this has an impact on their sustainability.

"The challenge is in knowing where to go for impartial, clear and appropriate advice which can help them make the right choices and improve. That is why we're partnering with the Energy Saving Trust.

"Its expertise and status as an independent and impartial organisation will give companies the confidence that they are getting the best advice available.

"They aim to keep employees as mobile as they need to be to do their job, but in the most sustainable way possible."

Andrew Benfield, head of transport services at the Energy Saving Trust, said: "We know companies want help with car fleets and mobility, but they don't always know where to turn.

"Many don't realise the range of services that are available to them through the Energy Saving Trust and the impact these can have.

"We've worked with organisations that have seen a major turnaround in their fleet costs and carbon footprint by using our products to measure what is really going on and then thinking more widely about the alternatives.

"With a national network that is within a few miles of nearly everyone in the country, Enterprise is well placed to help us reach every business in the UK.

Working with the Energy Saving Trust, GFleet and the Enterprise CarShare programme as early as 2010, Woking Borough Council identified grey fleet as a significant issue and introduced a car pool near its head offices in Woking.

A recent Energy Saving Trust review of its fleet has shown that the CO2 footprint for employee business travel has dropped by 37 per cent (around 1.2 tonnes of CO2 per year) and grey fleet mileage has fallen by 14,000 miles a year, some 25 per cent.

Due to better journey planning and more consideration over whether trips are actually necessary, the Council has saved thousands of pounds with no reduction in its services to the local community.

David Johnson, corporate strategy manager at Woking Borough Council, said: "Without help from the Energy Saving Trust and GFleet right from the outset we would not have had such a clear picture of where the issues were with our use of vehicles.

"The GFleet Review nailed down what we could change and why it made sense. We made a number of changes, in particular by introducing the Enterprise CarShare programme, and now we can see clear, measurable results.

"I believe most organisations could benefit from the services offered by the Energy Saving Trust."

More articles on: