SMALLER businesses say it is important to have a green fleet but most won’t allocate the necessary budget.
That’s the finding of a survey by Lombard Vehicle Management.
Most small businesses over-estimate the cost of offsetting a vehicle’s carbon emissions. For a panel van covering over 20,000 miles per year, the true offset cost is about £7 per month.
Three-quarters of smaller businesses would be willing to pay up to £4 per month to offset a vehicle’s carbon emissions. Many said they would want public recognition, for example, through sign-written vehicles.
Lombard Vehicle Management boss Rob Bailey, said: “For a small business, cost is always paramount. It is perhaps unrealistic to expect them to adopt green fleet policies on a widespread basis.”
Bailey added that it would be necessary to “educate the business community about the true cost of going green -and – perhaps for them to be incentivised”.
Lombard’s survey of smaller businesses found:
- 70% say it is important to have a green fleet
- 56% currently not prepared to allocate any budget to it
- 65% likely or very likely to choose greener vehicles
- 26% likely to restrict user-choosers to greener vehicles
- 36% prepared to consider hybrid cars
- 17% prepared to consider electric commercial vehicles