SPARKS, MD – A recently conducted PHH Arval survey of public and private sector fleet managers — designed to gauge awareness of environmental issues and barriers to implement solutions — revealed that corporate interest in the environment is growing.

Asked to rate how their organizations’ interest in the environment has changed over the past year, 45 percent of respondents said it had grown significantly. In addition, there was significantly more interest from senior management in the impact the organization’s fleet of cars and trucks has on the environment — 77 percent of respondents indicated they had been asked about the environmental impact of their fleets in the past year.

Techniques for improving environmental performance included right-sizing, hybrids, flex-fuel vehicles, driver training, preventive maintenance, and greenhouse gas offsets. Greenhouse gas offsets were the least explored option among those surveyed. A higher percentage of government fleet managers explored opportunities in every category as compared to their private sector counterparts.

According to the survey, 59 percent of public sector and 56 percent of private sector managers considered cost the biggest barrier. In addition, 89 percent of corporate fleet managers and 79 percent of government fleet managers who looked at hybrids cited costs and availability of appropriate vehicles as barriers. Driver attitudes were more of an issue for government fleets (35 percent vs. 18 percent), and lack of executive interest was more of an issue in the private sector (20 percent vs. 12 percent).

The survey revealed that large numbers of managers felt they did not have the appropriate tools to select environmentally-friendly vehicles, influence driver behavior, and measure changes in environmental performance.