Despite the recession, most companies are taking action to improve the fuel efficiency of their corporate vehicles and boost their environmental performance. Very few companies are sitting on their hands waiting for things to magically change.

What’s the difference between pushing ahead with green fleet programs vs. doing nothing? Those pushing ahead are saving money.

They’re cutting expenses by 4% on average by investing in high-mileage vehicles and beefing up their driver training programs to emphasize the environmental and cost benefits of green fleet programs, according to this year’s PHH Arval Green Fleets Survey.

Those participating in the PHH GreenFleet program report, on average, that they are cutting vehicle operating expenses by 4%.

For example, Owens Corning cut its overall operating expenses by 8%, reduced GHG releases by 15 % and improved mileage by 18% after it adopted the GreenFleet program. Owens Corning’s story is here.

An overwhelming number of corporate fleet managers surveyed — 66% — say they’re still on course to improve fleet mileage and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Another 21% of fleet managers told the PHH Arval GreenFleet Survey that they accelerated their push to create green fleets in the past year, despite the recession.

Only 9% of those surveyed say they’re backing off plans to improve the environmental performance of their fleets.

Most fleet managers — 63% — have adopted environmental goals as part of their program to improve fleet efficiency.  The most common ways to do this: measure and reduce GHG emissions (25%) and improve miles per gallon (25%).

The fleet management companies that sponsored the survey, PHH Corporation and Arval, say measuring GHG emissions is the simplest and best way to track a fleet’s impact on the environment. MPG is not a great green measurement tool, the companies say, because it doesn’t account for changes in fleet size, vehicle choice and mileage.

The 2009 survey results are here.

The key elements of the PHH GreenFleet program include:

• tracking GHG emissions and reporting them to establish a baseline to measure environmental and economic performance year-to-year
• adopting programs to increase a vehicle’s performance to reduce emissions
• offsetting GHG emissions, and
• assuming the role of an environmental leader through public outreach programs.

The GreenFleet program is here.

Tags: alternative fuel vehicles, Arval, fuel efficiency, GHG emissions, Owens Corning, PHH