Fleet Forum - UNEP Developing a Clean Fleet Strategy Workshop Results 

Fleet Forum members have repeatedly indicated that understanding and addressing the environmental impact of their vehicle fleets is a high priority to them.  In direct response to this, the Fleet Forum, together with UNEP, organised a Clean Fleet Strategy Workshop on 24 and 25 February 2009.  Four agencies, UNLB, UN-OCHA, URD, and ICRC, participated in the 1.5 day workshop held at the ICRC training centre in Versiox, Switzerland which resulted in clear actions for each participating agency to take within their operations to reduce their CO2 emissions.

In preparation for the workshop, participating organisations were required to gather basic information on their vehicle numbers, kilometres driven and fuel utilisation per annum.  As a first step, this data was input into the UNEP toolkit (http://www.unep.org/tnt-unep/fleetforum/) which then calculates the CO2 emissions and other air pollutants being emitted by each organisation.  The toolkit provides a very clear picture of the damage being done to the environment based on typical vehicle usage by an organisation.

Once the baseline calculation was derived, participants then with the help of UNEP and the Fleet Forum worked through the remaining modules of the toolkit to determine specific actions that could be taken to reduce their fleet's environmental impact.  The results were diverse, organisation specific, plans of action unique to each operation.  The actions included everything from establishing concrete data gathering mechanisms, to setting up internal monitoring systems focused on fuel usage, to including environmental criteria into purchasing processes.  The results spanned the full range of operations and illustrated again how fleets underpin or are linked to many facets of humanitarian organisations.

Universally, it was acknowledged that providing eco driving courses were a definite step that all the organisations should take.  These courses would not only benefit the reduction of CO2 emissions, but would also have a positive impact on safe driving and save the organisations money as less fuel would be utilised.

The commitment to cleaner fleets didn't end with the workshop.  Each organisation took their recommendations and developed a clear plan of action with defined steps that they will take in the coming months.  The participating agencies also committed to undertaking an advocacy role within their own organisations as key to effecting a broader impact.

The Fleet Forum and UNEP have committed to providing on-going support to the participants, including maintaining regular contact to ensure the action plans are being achieved.  As part of the feedback provided by the participants who were positive about the workshop, it was strongly recommended that more organisations should be addressing their fleets' environmental impact and should be developing clean fleet strategies.  As such the Fleet Forum will strive to organise more of these workshops. 

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