Companies have many tools available for them to reduce emissions from their fleet vehicles. The most effective programs for reducing emissions leverage multiple tools and achieve cost and emission reductions.

Novo Nordisk, Poland Spring and Carrier are demonstrating that driving less, selecting more efficient vehicles, and choosing lower-carbon fuel sources are bedrock principles of the greenhouse gas management approach Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has long advocated for corporate fleets to utilize.

Novo Nordisk, a leading healthcare company with a fleet of 2,500 cars in the U.S., was able to reduce its fleet greenhouse gas emissions in the first six months of 2009 by 21 percent compared to the same period in 2007. Right-sizing vehicles were responsible for the majority of the emission reductions. Additionally, Novo Nordisk was among the first major fleets to train their drivers on fuel-smart driving practices, such as avoiding aggressive driving and minimizing idling. This effort alone helped Novo Nordisk increase the fuel efficiency of its existing vehicle stock by nearly 3 percent. Their fleet wide efforts help them avoid over 7,000 metric tons of emissions and $2.3 million in fuel purchases - a clear win-win.

Poland Spring operates a much smaller fleet in terms of number of vehicles than Novo Nordisk, even though each vehicle is much, much larger. The Maine-based company has 36 tractor-trailers and 75 tanker trailers. Right-sizing opportunities for these vehicles are limited. For them, improving the use of the vehicles offers the greatest near-term emission reductions. By using onboard computers, Poland Spring slashed truck idling by 70 percent and reduced the top speed of its vehicles. These efforts and the roll-out of waste-based B5 help the company reduce emission nearly 80 metric tons and $20,000 in costs.

Carrier Corporation, which is part of UTC, reduced fleet emissions by leveraging data from onboard computers, vehicle right-sizing and reducing vehicle weight. The company operates a fleet of over 3,000 vehicles in North America, including service trucks and sedans driven by sales staff. Carrier focused on the service vehicles first since they are the source of the largest percentage of emissions. To start, Carrier moved technicians whose job required less equipment from the Ford E-350, which was previously standard equipment; to the smaller and more efficient Ford F-150 and Ford Ranger. They then rolled out an onboard data system to all of its service vehicles. Carrier was able to leverage the data it collected to dramatically reduce idling and excessive speeding, while also improving routing. From its efforts Carrier has reduced its fleet emissions by 30 percent and is saving $1 million each year in fuel costs.

These three companies are in very different industries and operate distinctly different fleets. Yet, they were all able to reduce emissions and costs with tools available to them today. We encourage all companies to follow the lead of these three and search out the fuel-saving solutions that make sense for them today in order to keep finding opportunities to make even greater reductions in the future.

For more details on each company's efforts, see EDF's Green Fleet Case Studies.

Jason Mathers is a project manager for EDF's Corporate Partnerships Program where he works with today's leading companies to identify, develop and implement innovative environmental practices that make business sense.

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