Ubico celebrates being finalist for Fleet Vision International Awards 2024
Ubico celebrates being finalist for Fleet Vision International Awards 2024
Ubico was nationally recognised as a finalist in the 'Best Air Quality Strategy' category for the Fleet Vision International awards which took place on 11th April in recognition of the initiatives they have taken to reduce carbons emissions on their extensive fleet.
This new category, presented by the Westminster Commission for Road Air Quality, highlights how an organisation has implemented innovative strategies or measures that have had a significant and positive impact on air quality to the public. Although Ubico did not win this award, we were very honoured to receive a ‘highly commended’ recognition from the judges.
All of Ubico’s shareholder councils have declared a climate emergency and since 2020, we have worked on a number of initiatives to improve air quality, reduce our carbon footprint, and support our local authority partners with their ambitions to become carbon neutral.
Our operations are supported by a fleet of 1260 vehicles and equipment and a high percentage of our carbon emissions are attributable to our transport fleet. During their operations, our fleet cover an area of 1496sqm. The size of Ubico’s operating area can make introducing electric and hybrid vehicles challenging, particularly with the distance a refuse or recycling collection vehicle can cover in the day. Electric and hybrid vehicles can also be expensive to procure and maintain and with local authority budgets under pressure it was imperative that we approached our carbon initiative with this in mind.
Ubico took a holistic approach to our carbon initiatives, focusing not just on the introduction of battery powered electric and hybrid electric vehicles but also on software to support and coach our drivers in more eco friendly driving, the introduction of hydrotreated vegetable oil as an alternative fuel, and changes to the way we maintain and service our vehicles.
Ian Bourton, Head of Fleet Operations at Ubico said:
“We were delighted to be selected as finalists in this brand new category, in recognition of our work towards reducing our carbon emissions. We are committed to supporting our local authorities in their drive to reduce carbon emissions and wanted to introduce initiatives that recognised this ambition whilst also being mindful of constraints on local authority budgets. Over the last three years we have made significant savings not only in carbon emissions but also in terms of the amount of fuel used and financial savings, reducing the cost of our services for our local authority shareholders”