How climate measures are easily converted into commercial benefits

MULTIPLE CLIMATE MEASURES

There are several Dutch or European legal directives that require companies to report CO2 emissions, namely:

• The European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) that requires large companies to report on things like CO2 emissions or other sustainability targets since 2024. This will become mandatory for more and more companies in the coming years. Subcontractors, large or small, will also have to provide some form of data to clients to meet their reporting obligations.
• The Work-Related Passenger Mobility Decree from 1 July 2024 requires all employers with more than 100 employees to record business- and commuting-related trips of their employees. The reporting requirement requires employers to annually report the total kilometres travelled by their employees. It does not matter here whether the employee travels by bus, train, leased or private car, plane or by foot, it must be specified by means of transport and fuel type, as well as the nature of mobility (commuting or business). This results in a report that provides insight into the company's carbon footprint.  
• The Environmental Management Information Act and the CO2 Performance Ladder, which have been in place for some time now and should help companies and governments reduce CO2 and costs. For this, an annual audit is done to assess improvements. Particularly in tenders, companies within Construction or Infra will use the CO2 Performance Ladder to demonstrate their CO2 management.

SOLUTIONS FOR COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGE

So all schemes require different reports that you, as a company, do not want to prepare manually. This takes far too much time and is also error-prone. Especially when it comes to tenders, you don't want to take any risks in this.

Within our Fleet & Asset Management software, we have several solutions that contribute to accurate, automated CO2 reporting. Besides reporting, it gives you as a company the insight to reduce CO2 emissions and therefore save significant costs. Not just by saving on fuel, but mainly by saving time.

Mileage registration 
Our vehicle tracking system features automatic kilometre and trip recording. By using kilometre and trip recording, the administrative burden around work-related passenger mobility is significantly reduced. The necessary trip data, such as travel time, distance, departure and visit addresses, are automatically and digitally recorded. The trip summary is easy to view online and can be supplemented with vehicle and fuel type. Based on this, CO2 emissions are calculated. The report can easily be entered on the digital form of the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO) before 1 July 2024. Our solution is equipped with the Keurmerk Ritregistratie (Quality Mark for Ride Registration), this data can also be used for reporting to the tax authorities. Read more here.  

 Optimal route  
Our vehicle tracking system offers more environmental benefits. By tracking vehicles and large machines in the GPS-Buddy platform, jobs are automatically scheduled based on the optimum route. This saves significantly on mileage and fuel consumption. This contributes positively to the environment and gives room to schedule more jobs. In addition, it significantly reduces the planner's workload. Read more here or Read more here

Adjusting driving behaviour
To reduce CO2 emissions even further, as an organisation you can also look at drivers' driving behaviour. For example, fast and frequent acceleration, speeding and unnecessary idling requires more fuel and therefore higher CO2 emissions. All movements of a vehicle are recorded in the GPS-Buddy system and can be worked out per driver in a report. By having insight into the driving behaviour of the various drivers, you are able to steer in a targeted way to an environmentally aware driving style. An additional commercial advantage is that the vehicle wears less and the drivers drive more safely.  

Traffic flow through smart traffic lights  
Thanks to GPS-Buddy's Connected Transport solution, it is also possible for vehicles (so far only trucks) to get green lights more often and to continue driving at a constant speed. Contact is made from the truck with intelligent traffic control systems (iVRIs), giving it priority at smart traffic lights. The advantage is that the throughput improves, which as a company saves significantly on fuel consumption and thus reduces CO2 emissions. Reducing travel time also provides a commercial benefit. Read more here 

Insight into machine running hours
By measuring machine running hours, the CO2 emissions of vehicles and machinery can easily be calculated, based on specific parameters with or without the use of CANbus data. This data is used to complete the CO2 Performance Ladder. Improvements on the CO2 Performance Ladder directly influence the tender price or the client's award in a tendering process. Also, insight into machine hours saves fuel costs and makes it easier to plan maintenance. This prevents unnecessary downtime of vehicles and machines and thus optimal utilisation of equipment. Read more here

CO2: A BLESSING, NOT A BURDEN 

By now, it is clear that focusing on CO2 reduction need not be an administrative disaster, but rather, by using the right digital tools, an opportunity. The more digitised, the more data. The more data, the more insight. Collecting all the data in one clear platform makes it possible to work much more efficiently and manage time, staff, vehicles and equipment more effectively. This reduces fuel consumption and therefore CO2 emissions. Lower CO2 emissions also increase competitive advantage in tenders. In addition, vehicles and equipment last longer, which of course also saves considerable costs.  In short: CO2 is not a burden, but a blessing.

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR ORGANISATION, PLEASE CONTACT US.