The UK Government’s Car and Despatch Agency has been commended by international ‘green’ award judges.
The Agency’s manager Ben Davis was the only UK entrant commended by judges of the public sector European Fleet Manager of the Year award.
The Government fleet was also among seven public service organisations from across the EC whose efforts to cut both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. This earned them a place among the runners-up for the prestigious title of European Public Sector Fleet of the Year.
In just over three years the Government Car and Despatch Agency - GCDA - has transformed its 172-strong pool of government vehicles into one of the greenest car fleets anywhere in the UK. It has doubled the number of low-emission diesel cars it runs but, most impressively, 60 percent of its cars are now ‘cleaner’ hybrid/LPG models.
The agency’s tailpipe emissions have been cut by more than a third, from 232.03g CO2/km in 2004/5 to 145 .17g CO2/km in 2007/8. The GCDA is already within striking distance of the government’s own deadline of a maximum of 130g CO2/km emissions by 2012 - it already achieves this target on all newly-purchased cars - and the Cabinet Office has cited the agency as an example of best practice.
Ben Davis, Fleet Manager of the Car and Despatch Agency said: “We have always known we had a good story to tell in the UK but it was great to see how our work to minimise our impact on the environment compared to that of our European peers.”
Simon McBride