Green car Policy

PwC cuts vehicle fuel consumption by 10%

Employees track personal fuel consumption online

PricewaterhouseCoopers managed to reduce the fuel consumption of its vehicle fleet in Belgium by 10% in 2009 compared with one year earlier. During 2008 a large number of vehicles in the fleet were replaced and PwC decided in favour of adopting a 'green fleet' approach with a strong focus on environmental issues. The main selection criteria for new fleet vehicles are now fuel consumption and carbon emissions. In October the company will launch its ‘My Fuel Consumption’ intranet application, which employees can use to track their personal fuel consumption. Alongside the gradual introduction of hybrid vehicles and greater attention to safety, PwC also wants to continue to reduce the fuel consumption of the fleet over the next few years.

Green fleet, a question of corporate social responsibility

 “Obviously businesses have a responsibility to society,” says Christian Claessens, the PwC Director responsible for the fleet, among things, “and caring for the environment is an important aspect of this. PwC is an organisation that has a large number of initiatives in this area, such as reducing its paper consumption. And we can also do our bit for the environment through our fleet.” He adds that creating an entirely ‘green’ fleet is a step-by-step process. “Our Belgian fleet currently consists of 1056 vehicles. They cannot simply be replaced overnight by more environmentally friendly models. That said, a large number of vehicles were included in our first wave of replacements in 2008. As part of this, juniors (with up to three years of service) and seniors (with between four and eight years of service) were able to opt for a more environmentally friendly model even if their company car contract was not up for renewal. The Audi A1 will be added to the range of vehicles offered to the senior segment as of September.”

The choice of the Audi A1 reflects the new fleet approach, in which environmental aspects such as carbon emissions and fuel consumption have become much more important criteria in the selection of new company cars. “Before, much more attention was paid to the appearance and prestige of the vehicle,” Mr Claessens says. “A company car is a significant factor in an employee’s decision to go with a particular employer, and the attractiveness of the car plays an important role in this context. But we have shifted our emphasis completely when it comes to selecting new cars for each segment: carbon emissions and fuel consumption are now the most important criteria, together with safety, while appeal and prestige are taken into consideration at a later stage. We stuck to the emission and consumption standards we had set for the senior segment and after taking a closer look at a number of similar cars we ultimately opted for the A1. It gained the top scores in our test, with a nominal consumption of 3.9 litres per 100 km and CO²emissions of 99 g. Moreover, it is a very safe car. Given all this, its positive image is a bonus.”

Green fleet not possible without employees’ support

Developing a green vehicle fleet involves much more than just making environmentally friendly vehicles available. A project of this kind also needs to be supported by employees, since they are the people who have to choose between the models on offer. PwC has launched many initiatives to show employees how they can do their bit for the environment too. “In view of the fact that we are gradually adding hybrid cars to the fleet, in March last year we organised a Hybrid Car Test Drive Day so that employees could experience what it was like to drive a hybrid car. During the evaluation of the test drive day it became clear that the majority of the employees felt very positively about hybrid cars. It is quite likely that we will organise a similar activity for electric cars in the future, because whichever way you look at it driving electric cars takes some adjustment and getting used to on the part of the driver,” Mr Claessens explaines.

Another important aspect is safety. Fast driving not only increases fuel consumption, it is also dangerous. Employees who have had three accidents in which they were at fault follow a refresher course that focuses on safety and defensive driving. “This initiative has borne fruit: efficient, effective accident management within the PwC fleet since 2009 has cut the number of accidents by approximately 20%,” Mr Claessens adds.

Note to editors:

If you would like more information on this subject or wish to arrange an interview with Christian Claessens, please contact Geert Poisquet (+32 479 33 44 89) at Luna.