Challenging Sustainability Targets? Involve your employees!

Challenging Sustainability Targets? Involve your employees!

Fleet Managers are primarily procurement experts, skilled in selecting the optimal supply chain and negotiating deals with suppliers. However, they often need to step beyond procurement to focus on operations, change management, and policy development. This shift is driven by the fleet category's inherent connection to other corporate functions such as HR, Finance, HSE, and increasingly, Sustainability.

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From Bold Statements to Strategy

When a CEO publicly commits to sustainability targets, whether through SBTi, EV100, or annual reports, it triggers a ripple effect across every department. While fleet emissions may represent a small portion of a company's total emissions, the urgency for transformation in the fleet sector is now undeniable.

This is where challenges arise for fleet managers. They receive ambitious company targets, sometimes as vague as "net zero by 2030," and must translate these into actionable plans. Some strategic elements are clear: electrification helps, and reducing mileage is beneficial. However, these measures only scratch the surface of a comprehensive strategy.

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A Scientific Approach

Many companies focus their sustainability strategy on electrification—a significant but complex and costly shift. However, electrification alone doesn’t solve the sustainability problem, as no country produces 100% renewable energy, and electric vehicles can't achieve net zero targets on their own. The sector often overlooks this because the issue is not addressed scientifically (GHG Protocol) but rather from a tailpipe emissions perspective: replacing a diesel with a BEV is seen as sufficient.

Fleet Managers must quickly adapt to assessing their fleet’s sustainability performance scientifically. Traditional baselines like OEM-confirmed emissions (WLTP or NEDC values) are insufficient for GHG reporting. The GHG protocol requires reporting not only CO2 but also N2O, CH4, and F-gases. It’s country-specific, vehicle-specific, and usage-based, distinguishing between business, commuting, and private usage.

A significant hurdle is the lack of comprehensive data. Most fleet managers don't have the source data needed for a GHG report, and their supply chain partners (leasing providers, fuel suppliers, OEMs) only hold partial data. The missing piece, vehicle utilization, often resides with the employees.

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Call to Action: Involve the Employee

Traditionally, fleet managers aim for smooth operations that don’t impact employees. However, collecting the necessary GHG data inevitably involves employees. Despite the standardization of employee self-service models (e.g., booking travel, entering expenses), involving them in sustainability targets remains challenging.

A true sustainability strategy begins with comprehensive data: vehicle types, usage, consumption, CO2e, and electricity efficiency factors to establish a reliable baseline. Appropriate powertrain selection follows: hybrids in some regions, EVs in others. Reducing residual emissions involves mobility initiatives and training employees for sustainable driving.

Successful strategies require driver input with minimal disruption. Skipping this step can lead to large-scale failures due to mistakes or oversimplifications.

At Scopes Data, we support you in this process with a GHG Protocol-compatible reporting solution that engages employees non-disruptively. Our tool provides a scientifically accurate baseline and reveals residual emissions, allowing you to take additional measures to meet your targets, beyond powertrain selection. We offer tailored solutions for every country, all for less than 0.01% of your TCO and one minute of monthly data entry per employee.

Reach out to us for more information.