ST. LOUIS, 2016-1-11 — /Travel PR News/ — The world’s largest car rental service provider, Enterprise Holdings Inc., has announced new five-year goals in its fiscal year 2015 (FY2015) sustainability report, The Business of Sustainability. The company operates – through its regional subsidiaries and independent franchises – the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands in more than 75 countries and territories, including North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and Europe, as well as parts of Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
“These new goals reflect a fresh look at our priorities based on conversations with our many stakeholders and leadership teams,” said Pam Nicholson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Holdings Inc.
In the report, Nicholson also stressed that Enterprise Holdings takes “a thoughtful approach that balances the needs of our customers and our business with sustainable resource use.” As a result, Enterprise Holdings’ new goals were drafted using an assessment process that not only surveyed employees, major suppliers, major corporate accounts and internal senior leaders, but also included a qualitative review and analysis of public comments and reports by automotive manufacturers and the car rental industry as a whole.
This comprehensive process identified and prioritized the most material sustainability issues for Enterprise Holdings and its stakeholders. Sixteen issues were then ranked on a matrix, which helped the company determine its new five-year goals:
- Waste: Reduce companywide paper use 40 percent by FY2020.
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG): Reduce Scope 1* and Scope 2* greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent by FY2020.
- Energy: Reduce annual direct and indirect energy use and related costs, compared to the previous year.
- Water: Reduce annual water use (per vehicle wash), compared to the previous year.
- Workforce Development: Continue investing in the workplace by providing an average ofat least three days’ professional development annually per full-time management employee, and also encouraging all employees to attend relevant company sessions, events, programs and forums.
Sustainability Highlights
When the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) honored Enterprise Holdings with its Sustainability Outstanding Achievement Award in 2015, it specifically recognized the company for being a leader among travel industry buyers, suppliers and intermediaries, and for its comprehensive commitment to making sustainability a core function within its business.
“We still firmly believe providing long-term benefits and seamless solutions to customers, partners and communities is the key to sustainability in the transportation and travel sector,” said Brad Carr, Vice President of Corporate Business Development for Enterprise Holdings Inc. “However, we’re also seeing more and more contract-related questions about top-line sustainability issues. That means we work to help organizations better understand the long-term impact of corporate travel in terms of cost, plus environmental considerations, efficiency and duty of care.”
In the travel industry, “duty of care” refers to a standard of reasonable care provided to customers. To this end, Enterprise Holdings adheres to the highest vehicle maintenance standards and vigilantly monitors safety recalls. During FY2015, the company also supported and collaborated with those individuals and organizations who successfully advocated for legislative oversight of the vehicle recall process.
In addition, Enterprise Holdings’ car rental brands continue to offer services that help major corporate accounts better manage their carbon footprints. For example, the company offers the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets as part of vehicle rentals – through partnerships with TerraPass in the U.S. and Canada, and ClimateCare in the UK – and the option to request customized carbon emissions reports based on vehicle type and miles traveled. To date, 120,700 metric tons of carbon have been offset, which – based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards – is equivalent to saving 13.5 million gallons of gasoline and 280,700 barrels of oil.
The Enterprise Holdings fleet also is one of the freshest, most fuel-efficient in the world. Its vehicles have an average odometer reading of less than 16,000 miles and an age of only eight months. Moreover, approximately 53 percent of its vehicles average a highway fuel efficiency rating of at least 28 mpg, and 49 percent average 32 mpg or better in the U.S. and Canada.
Supply Chain Management
Enterprise Holdings selects suppliers and partners who share its values and commitment to uphold the highest standards of quality, integrity, excellence, safety, legal compliance and respect for human rights, as well as its respect for the customs and culture of the communities it serves.
Consequently, Enterprise Holdings is rolling out a Supplier Code of Conduct in 2016 to promote a common understanding of what it expects of its suppliers, documenting that all suppliers are expected to understand the Code and adhere to its spirit and intent. The new Code likewise specifies that suppliers are expected to respect human rights by following all applicable laws, including, but not limited to, local minimum wage, overtime and maximum hour rules, and by not employing child or forced labor, either directly or indirectly.
As part of its commitment to local communities, Enterprise Holdings seeks to have its supplier base bear a reasonable relationship to the towns and cities in which it operates. The company’s Supplier Diversity Program is intended to help facilitate an increase in the number of minority-owned, women-owned and other socially or economically disadvantaged small businesses that work to provide goods and services for Enterprise Holdings, its regional subsidiaries, its business lines and its brands.
2010-15 Sustainability Results
Other FY2010-15 highlights in Enterprise Holdings’ latest sustainability report include:
- Energy: Reduced natural gas consumption 14.8 percent and cut electricity use 19.1 percent, compared with FY2010 baseline. Figures have been calculated using same-store and weather-normalized data (excluding new locations and branch offices where an external landlord is responsible for utility bills).
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG):Achieved a 10.1 reduction in Scope 1* emissions and a 31.2 percent reduction in Scope 2* emissions since FY2010. Combined, Enterprise Holdings reduced its GHG emissions intensity 18.6 percent.
- Alternative-Fuel Shuttle Buses: Converted 98 percent of airport shuttle buses to biodiesel, synthetic diesel, compressed natural gas or hybrid models since FY2010.
- Enterprise Sustainable Construction Protocol (ESCP) Guidelines:Invested more than
- $150 million, including thousands of new and retrofitted construction projects, since FY2010.
- Product Lifecycle: Recycled 1.4 million gallons of oil and more than 1 million oil filters for its fleet last year, representing 95 percent of the oil and virtually all of the filters used in its North American service centers.
Enterprise Holdings is the only company in the international car rental industry – and one of a handful in the global travel industry – to complete a sustainability report in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 “Core” Guidelines. The world’s most comprehensive sustainability reporting framework, GRI is an international independent standards organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand, compare and communicate their impacts on critical topics as well as key issues.
Enterprise Holdings’ previous and current reports are posted on both the company’s website, EHI.com, and its sustainability website, DrivingFutures.com. A mid-cycle update about Enterprise Holdings’ progress on its new five-year goals will be provided in late 2016.
* Lucideon has completed a third-party verification of Enterprise Holdings’ reported FY2015 emissions – Scope 1 (direct GHG from owned operations) and Scope 2 (indirect GHG from consumption of purchased electricity, heat and/or steam). Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions constitute approximately 3 percent of the GHG impact associated with Enterprise Holdings’ car rental business. Scope 3 emissions are solely generated by customers and determined by their wide range of driving habits and mobility needs. For complete details, please refer to the fullVerification Statement.
About Enterprise Holdings
Enterprise Holdings – which owns the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands – and its affiliate Enterprise Fleet Management, together offer a total transportation solution, including extensive car rental and car sharing services, truck rental, corporate fleet management and retail car sales. Combined, these businesses accounted for $19.4 billion in revenue, employed more than 93,000 and owned 1.7 million vehicles throughout the world in fiscal year 2015.
Enterprise Holdings currently is ranked as one of America’s Largest Private Companies. Furthermore, if it were publicly traded, Enterprise Holdings would rank on Fortune‘s list of the 500 largest American public companies. In addition, Enterprise Holdings not only accounts for the largest airport market share in the U.S., but its domestic rental fleet also is one of the newest in the industry. The company’s affiliate, Enterprise Fleet Management, provides full-service fleet management to companies and organizations with medium-sized fleets. Other transportation services marketed under the Enterprise brand name include Enterprise CarShare, Enterprise Rideshare, Enterprise Car Sales, Enterprise Truck Rental, Exotic Car Collection by Enterprise, Zimride by Enterprise, Motorcycle Rental by Enterprise and Enterprise Flex-E-Rent. For more information about Enterprise Holdings, visit www.enterpriseholdings.com.
This press release and car rental industry news are available in the Enterprise Holdings Press Room.
For more information, contact:
Laura Bryant
Laura.T.Bryant@ehi.com