One in five (21%) of businesses have no fixed plans to reduce their fleet emissions, according to new research by Gofor.

More than one in 10 of fleets will wait over 12 months to look at fleet decarbonisation

The fleet management firm commissioned YouGov to survey 1,000 senior HR decision-makers this month as part of its new white paper. Respondents spanned a cross-section of companies and were quizzed on their plans for tackling the reduction of carbon emissions on their vehicle fleet as part of an environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda.

Alongside the 21% who either had no plans to reduce their fleet carbon output at any point or were unsure, a further 11% of those who ran vehicles expect to look at fleet decarbonisation in more than 12 months.

Gofor has warned that fleets may need to accelerate their plans though. The ZEV mandate, which legislates towards 100% zero emission vehicle production, requires OEMS to hit targets for 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans to be zero emission by 2030, putting pressure in fleets in turn.

Meanwhile the new Labour government has pledged to reintroduce the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel-engined cars, overturned by the previous administration.

More encouragingly, 49% of respondents were actively reducing their fleet carbon emissions; and a further 19% had plans to do so within the next year.

YouGov also questioned respondents on electric vehicle salary sacrifice and found just one in five businesses is currently running a sal-sac scheme, with an additional one in five having plans to implement it. The remainder had mixed awareness of the scheme or were simply unsure. That’s despite latest figures from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) in its April Leasing Outlook report showing 47% year on year growth for salary sacrifice.

Iain Bennett, Gofor’s managing director, commented: “We undertook the YouGov research to better understand where UK businesses are on their decarbonisation journey. We’ve been surprised by just how many companies still need to formalise a fleet electrification plan and are yet to take up EV salary sacrifice. These findings will help organisations focus on the environmental opportunity presented by their company fleets and we can help them to realise this opportunity as part of a more advanced ESG plan.”

The research forms part of a wider Gofor white paper created to support small- and medium-sized businesses with implementing an ESG plan.

The white paper, entitled ‘ESG Matters: How fleet electrification can kick-start your ESG strategy’, highlights that one of the biggest impacts on a business’s carbon footprint is likely to be its vehicle fleet.

The guide also includes insights on the business benefits of an ESG strategy; ESG implementation and the importance of a credible environmental approach; tackling fleet emissions with EV salary sacrifice; and integrating company vehicle decarbonisation into your ESG strategy.

To download Gofor’s white paper, click here.