EDF Innovation Exchange: Abbott continues to reduce fleet emissions
worldwide   (United States of America)
Abbott Laboratories, one of the world’s leading health care companies, significantly reduced emissions and costs from their vehicle fleet.

Background & Objectives

It’s been remarkable to watch the development of Abbott Labs as a leader in reducing emissions from its corporate fleet. Fleet Financials profiles Abbott’s efforts in this month’s edition. Environmental Defense Fund began working with Abbott in 2006. They were a client of PHH Arval, with whom we were developing the industry’s first comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions management program. Abbott was the ideal company to pilot the new project: it has a large fleet of mainly passenger vehicles, an existing corporate-wide commitment to reduce emissions and is seen as a leader in the fleet industry.

Implementation

Together with PHH, we worked with Abbott to establish a greenhouse gas emissions baseline and a plan for incorporating more efficient vehicles into the company’s fleet. For its first buy-cycle under the program, Abbott proceeded with a fair amount of caution; mainly offering incentives such as satellite radios and sunroofs to move its drivers to more efficient vehicles. Yet, the company was able to noticeably reduce fuel cost and emissions and, perhaps most importantly, demonstrate a model that other fleets could follow.
Abbott continued to build upon its auspicious start. The company took each buy cycle as an opportunity to make adjustments to its vehicle offerings, including incorporating more efficient vehicles (including some hybrid options for the first time), restricting less-efficient four-wheel drive vehicles to Snowbelt states and recognizing drivers for greener choices. In 2008, the company announced its intention to make their U.S.
fleet "carbon neutral." Abbott continued to push the envelope and be a model for other fleets when it increased personal use premiums on less fuel-efficient vehicles, resulting in additional shifts away from SUVs and minivans to sedans.

Conclusions

The results of Abbott’s efforts through the PHH GreenFleet program speak for themselves:
  • 13% reduction in SUV and minivan selections over two years
  • 8% of fleet is now fuel-efficient hybrid models (up from just a handful of hybrid vehicles before 2006)
  • 16% improvement in overall fleet vehicle fuel efficiency since 2006
  • 600,000+ gallons of gasoline reduced per year
The Fleet Financials article also covers Abbott’s success at building a diverse team to lead its fleet greening effort.
Check out these additional resources for greening your company’s fleet and let us know how you’re using them.

Author

Gerfried Cebrat

Contact

Jason Mathers
back to search results Posted: 2009
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