Need a go-slow approach to get your company on the green road to sustainability?

Just bide your time and start investing in new trucks — any new model that comes off the assembly line. You’ll get there.

New trucks will be much greener than those your company operates today, according to a global survey of fleet operations from IBM, the Global Truck 2020 Study, Transcending Turbulence.

Slowly upgrading with new vehicles will help you cut fuel costs and reduce air pollution because of the steady advance of technologies that will methodically make transportation more eco-friendly.

Truck makers are increasingly investing in fancy new hybrid technologies to make their vehicles more fuel efficient, run on alternative fuels and incorporate new technologies to make vehicles run cleaner. Trucking execs told IBM that the top drivers of change are:

• technology — 71% of those surveyed by IBM said technology will be the most important external factor forcing change, such as remote diagnostic services to troubleshoot maintenance problems while trucks are in operation
• globalization — 54% predicted more investment in product standardization and supply chain management to squeeze out greenhouse gas emissions from suppliers’ products and services, and
• sustainability — 48% predicted environmental and fuel efficiency standards will be the main drivers.

If you know you’ll be shopping for trucks, you may want to attend the Green Truck Summit in Atlanta in March.

But buying new trucks isn’t the only way to improve your fleet’s environmental performance. Training employees on green driving techniques is a low-cost, quick way to save money.

Tags: Global Truck study, Green Truck Summit, IBM, sustainability