The just-concluded Fleet Forum Summit, held in Geneva, Switzerland, brought together 27 Fleet Forum member organisations from across the aid and development sector as well as donors, supplier members, academic and collaborative organisations to deliberate on important actions for addressing sustainable fleet management.
Hosted by World Health Organization (WHO) and Toyota Gibraltar Stockholdings (TGS), the “Summit”, held for the 2nd time focussed on repledging the aspirational and at the same time, concrete commitments to sustainable fleet management.
For many members, the Summit is a key opportunity to accelerate efforts, particularly in areas like setting ambitious emission targets and implementing vehicle-sharing strategies. It's clear that the drive to make meaningful progress is stronger than ever, with participants eager to collectively turn plans into action and lead the change toward a more sustainable future.
This year the Summit inspired Fleet Forum supplier members to announce commitments. CAS Auto, Kjaer & Kjaer and Toyota Gibraltar Stockholdings all came forward with tangible actions that support aid and development organisations in their journey towards more sustainable fleet management. In addition, aid and development members UNHCR, Sightsavers and World Bank Group joined the group of 23 organisations that signed the commitments launched in 2023.
Hatem El Khodary - Director Operations Services at WHO opened the Summit stating “Fleet management is a cornerstone of the life-saving activities that WHO is doing. WHO's investment in fleet management started 15 years ago. We are very proud signee of the Fleet Forum's Sustainable Commitments as this aligns well with our climate change and health commitments”.
Dr. Megha Rathi, Technical Officer for Climate Change and Health at WHO, presented their ambition regarding climate change and health. She highlighted 29% of all deaths in the African Region are linked to environmental factors. WHO recognizes the significance of this connection, with 16% of its emissions stemming from its fleet, making it the third-largest source after air travel and electricity use. Additionally, she stressed that in fostering a fleet community of practice, the process and engagement are just as important as the outcomes.
Since the 2023 Summit, Fleet Forum members have been actively working to set a baseline and set fleet emission reduction targets. Prior to the Summit, Fleet Forum members reported on their progress on the Sustainable Commitments through a semi-annual survey as well as a dedicated space in the Clean Fleet Toolkit. Reponses were enriched the 2024 benchmarking results as well.
Preliminary insights from this baseline exercise were shared as the starting point for the Summit discussions:
More than 50% of Fleet Forum members have a baseline and targets for their largest fleets.
18 organisations exchanged data on the 2023 Scope 1 fleet emissions (including mileage and total number of vehicles) for the purpose of learning and measuring progress on the emissions. The aggregated dataset is estimated to represent approximately 20% of sector light fleet
In 2023, reported Scope 1 fleet emissions were 98k C02 metric tonnes eq. This is comparable to the CO₂ emissions from 61,000 round-trip flights between Geneva and Nairobi for one passenger
C02 per km analysis shows vast differences between organisations. Further data and discussion are needed to understand the differentiating practices
Organisations are balancing their sustainability actions, selecting a mix of actions under each pillar in the Avoid - Shift - Improve framework
65% of organisations share vehicles within own organisation, only 10% with other organisations. When examining the coverage of the organisations who are sharing, the current status is grimmer; only 34% of country operations share vehicles within own organisation, only 1% with other organisations.
Members recognised this was the first year, it's an imperfect baseline and members with the highest emissions are likely those who have the best data quality, covering all their fleet operations. As a follow-up to the Summit, anonymised results of the analysis will be shared with Fleet Forum members. Next to that, each member who shared data will received personalised feedback on their data quality to improve the emission reporting in 2025.
Consider the results of the analysis as well as the organisational challenges, Fleet Forum members worked together to tackle 4 key questions:
What is needed to down profile your fleet?
What do you need to make 1 shared vehicle trip per day possible in your organisation?
What key strategies can we implement to ensure effective communication and employee engagement throughout the change process?
What do you need to know from research to accelerate the change?
Through the discussions, Fleet Forum aligned on the identification of 4 priorities which members will jointly tackle in the coming 12 months:
Accelerate vehicle sharing by extending carpooling initiatives with 3rd parties (e.g. linking airport trips to UNHAS)
Conduct research, evidence-based cost-benefit analysis of sustainable fleet initiatives to get insights into those with the most impact
Develop a framework to conduct operational needs analysis to reduce the size and profile of fleets
Develop a communications strategy for internal and external stakeholders to accelerate the adoption of sustainable fleet initiatives
Fleet Forum Executive Director, Paul Jansen reflected “I'm very pleased with the progress we have made in 2024. Last year we made a strong start through the establisment of the commitments. This year we see we start to work more and more as a community, co-leading working groups and being accountable for progress. I'm also delighted that our supplier members are taking a step forward and formalising their sustainable commitments in the spirit of partnership. We're thankful to all members and our sponsors Toyota Gibraltar Stockholdings, Microlise and AidEx, as well as our host World Health Organization for making this event possible”.
As the saying goes, “the close of one conference marks the beginning of preparations for the next.” For Fleet Forum members, this means it’s time to come together, validate the action plans shaped by the key takeaways from the Summit, and push forward on the agreed-upon priorities. Looking ahead, it’s also an opportunity to explore new directions and set the stage for what’s to come at the 2025 Summit. The journey continues, and the work we do now will pave the way for even greater progress next year.
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