The Tasmania Department of Health and Human Services was the recipient of the 2013 Fleet Environment Award presented by the Australasian Fleet Management Association (AfMA).

The Tasmanian Government has legislated that it will aim to deliver a 60 percent reduction on 1990 greenhouse emissions by 2050. Within the Tasmanian public sector the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is the largest employer with over 12,000 staff, has the largest vehicle fleet, and, in turn, is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases (41 percent).

After a review of its operations Tasmanian DHHS implemented four distinct strategies to reduce CO2 emissions:

  1. The improved car pooling has corrected the imbalance of some cars driving high mileage and others low, and facilitated the reduction of fleet vehicles based on clear knowledge of fleet usage. This resulted in a reduction of fleet size by 9.49 percent, reduction in distance travelled by 10.41 percent, and reduction in fuel litres used by 16.01 percent from June 2011 to June 2013. This amounts to a CO2 emissions reduction of 708,504 kg or 15.06 percent reduction.
  2. In 2009 a decision was made to replace all 6 cylinder and greater vehicles with 4 cylinder vehicles unless a business case was made that supported the requirement for a larger vehicle. This was coupled with a decision to select greener vehicles as they were replaced using information from the Green Vehicle Guide website.
  3. A number of GPS tracking units have been purchased that are rotated throughout the operational vehicles. This allows the DHHS to determine vehicle usage patterns and make reductions where possible.
  4. A change in process for rental approvals has seen a reduction in the use of rental vehicles with an equivalent reduction in emissions by 38.93 percent from June 2011 to June 2013.

These efforts have resulted in a total CO2 reduction of 15.06 percent resulting in a cost reduction of $1,439,664 in year 2011/12 and $1,933,163 in 2012/13.

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