6 tips on how to reduce your business carbon footprint

What is the carbon footprint?

The carbon footprint is the impact that human beings have on the environment, determined on the greenhouse gases we generate measured in units of CO2. This concept directly or indirectly calculates greenhouse gas emissions. As a result of this, we can quantify people's impact and be aware of how to reduce costs and emissions.

Tip 1. Improve the fleet driver behaviour through Eco driving

To reduce your fleets emissions, it is important to understand what the current carbon footprint of your fleet looks like, and it is not only the air that is polluted by fleets.

According to an article in The Guardian**, nano plastics from tyres wear-and-tear have now been recorded both at the South and North Pole. As the article deliberates, nanoparticles are exceptionally light and are thought to be blown to Greenland on winds from cities in North America and Asia. The nano plastics found in sea ice in McMurdo Sound in Antarctica are likely to have been transported by ocean currents to the remote continent. 

Improving the driving behaviour within your fleet will directly reduce the environmental impact of your company. You can get started right away, simply set up a Driving Policy that outlines, among other things, the target driving behaviour score you expect your drivers to maintain. Managing this score ensures your tyres and vehicles last longer, and your fleet will pollute less.

•     Reducing speed

•     Reducing hard acceleration and cornering

•     Reducing idling

•     Minimising unnecessary braking

•     Planning routes to reduce mileage 

Read more about ABAX Driving Behaviour

Tip 2. Reduce idling 

One part of eco driving is idling, and there is a lot of unnecessary fuel costs and emissions being a huge concern and bringing a negative impact to your brand. Among ABAX customers, an average driver idles 32 hours each year in 2021, and according to Argonne National Laboratory, a passenger vehicle like a Volkswagen Jetta will consume 0.39 Gal = 1,47 (1,5) l/hour *, meaning our customers waste 48 litres of fuel annually on idling only. Wondering how much you can save? Try the ARL idling calculator and see for yourself ***.

Idling is key to fuel reduction and therefore carbon efficiency. ABAX telematics can examine data on driver behaviour. The service will highlight harsh acceleration, harsh braking and excessive acceleration and speeding – and all incidents will occur in the map. The company’s bad habits can be removed with the help of specific tips on how to improve within the map.
 

Tip 3. Track and locate your assets

You would not believe how much tools and machinery get lost on European plants. The European Confederation of Equipment Distributors quotes a figure equivalent to 9 billion USD for the whole of Europe****

The impact of replacing lost tools is one of the most wasteful parts of the construction industry because these tools are made from high emitting raw materials such as steel, aluminium, and polycarbonates/ polyamides. Replacing equipment that was in good working condition because you cannot locate them is a terribly wasteful and costly approach. Knowing where all assets are located at all times means efficient and effective tool management. 

Read more about tool tracking

Tip 4. Improved route planning

It goes without saying that a vehicle, which travels fewer miles, will burn less fuel and will be more carbon efficient. Telematic systems will monitor live traffic helping fleet managers and drivers find the best and most fuel-efficient routes and shortest distance. You would be surprised just how much optimising routes can be both financially and environmentally beneficial. By using real-time tracking data, fleet managers can determine the optimal route for your vehicles. 

ABAX technology gives you the ability to alter the chosen route as circumstances may change, which reduces the amount of time that your vehicles spend stuck in traffic, which goes heavy on your fuel and CO2 emission. 

Tip 5. Make carbon footprint a benchmark data

One of the main key actions World Business Council for Sustainable Development recommends is to include decarbonisation as a business benchmark. To help you measure the actual CO2 emissions across all your machines and vehicles within the project, ABAX have been provident and have already implemented a platform named ABAX Smart Connect where you can add all machinery data though open API’s into common to report so you easily can track your benchmarks. 

Tip 6. Reduce emissions with the help of reports

Finally, telematics can offer flexible reporting, run by fleet, both vehicles and machinery generated in an easy-to-read format that can be printed, saved, or set to send automatically to one or more recipients. This makes it simple to report on, demonstrate and prove carbon reduction.

By adding an environmental report to a project, including all machinery and vehicles involved in the project, the information retrieved from the GPS fleet tracking technology can help you track emission per asset and understand what emit the most and therefore know what investments needs to be done for accessions of new machinery or vehicles. Combined with driver behaviour data and location tracking, you can gain a comprehensive picture and take the appropriate steps to reduce the company emissions. Helping you implementing a successful green strategy for 2022.

Sources:
*https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/construction-industry-doesn-t-know-where-it-stands-when-it-comes-to-carbon-emissions
**https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/21/nanoplastic-pollution-found-at-both-of-earths-poles-for-first-time
***https://www.anl.gov/sites/www/files/2018-02/idling_worksheet.pdf
****https://www.imia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/wgp4305.pdf