• Masterlease comments on the pre-budget report - Oct. '07
• Licenced not to kill - Aug. '07
• Food for thought - biofuel comment - Jul. '07
• Low emission plans wide of the mark - May '07
• Call to tackle downtime - May '07
• Everybody's fuel - Biofuel comment May '07
• Park Strife - parking training for drivers - April '07
• Ensuring Continuity - business continuity release - April '07
• Masterlease launches FAGNAV™ - 1st April 2007
• Budget Comment - Mar. '07
• Everybody leaves empty-handed - Feb. '07
• Hot convertibles - Jan. '07

• Beware of poor carbon copies - Jan. 2007

• Speed limiter legislation - Dec. '06

Beware of poor carbon copies - Jan. 2007

Masterlease backs Government plans to beef up carbon offsetting schemes

Fleet management firm Masterlease has backed Government plans to clear up confusion in the carbon offsetting market and is warning fleet operators to be wary of any such schemes that don’t look to cut emissions in the first place.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced this week that it is to tighten up regulations governing carbon offsetting schemes. Recently these have become popular in the fleet industry, with company drivers making a donation to help projects that benefit the environment.

Defra is introducing a gold standard for programmes that have an immediate impact on an employer’s carbon footprint by helping a diverse range of projects, including those in developing countries.

Masterlease has welcomed the move but warns it does not go far enough, saying Defra should reward schemes that actually look to reduce emissions from the outset.

Clive Forsythe, sales and marketing director at Masterlease, said that fleet operators should all be looking to cut their emissions rather than simply offsetting their pollution.

He said: “Taking part in a carbon offsetting scheme is not a cue for fleet operators – and all employers – to carry on as they have been doing. Some pollution is unavoidable and carbon offsetting schemes have an important role to play in compensating for that, but we all need to find ways to reduce our vehicles’ impact on the environment.

“Many schemes will have benefits in the future but do not necessarily look to tackle the more immediate problem of emission levels. Defra’s gold standard will certainly make it easier for businesses to figure out which schemes are actually beneficial in both the short and long term, but the first stage in any scheme like this should be to look for ways to reduce emissions.”

Forsythe added that alongside taking part in carbon offsetting schemes, fleet operators could look to tackle mileage as well as offering incentives for choosing vehicles that emit less.

Masterlease has developed its own four stage Carbon Offset process to help fleets become carbon neutral.  This process includes:

1.  Carry out assessment to accurately quantify current CO2 emissions from the fleet.

2.  Identify cost effective ways of reducing these emissions – this is an important stage because many offset schemes don’t seek to actually reduce emissions. Encouraging car sharing, use of public transport and increasing the number of phone or video conferences to cut out unnecessary journeys are all good starting points.

3.  Identify a suitable project that reduces local emissions – for example forestry or renewable energy.

4.   Money is given by the company to chosen projects to offset their carbon emissions; costs may be recovered through a monthly charge to drivers to offset their own vehicle emissions.

 Ends