As COP29 takes place this week and global temperatures continue to rise, it is abundantly clear that meeting the UK’s emissions reduction targets will require accelerating efforts across all sectors of society, including those responsible for managing the fleets of cars used by businesses and their employees on a daily basis.

Fleet News’ first-ever Sustainable Mobility Week couldn’t be more timely. I am therefore pleased to be able to share my thoughts as Chief Executive of Collaborative Mobility UK (CoMoUK), the UK’s national charity for the public benefits of shared transport such as car sharing, bike sharing schemes , elevators and scooters.

These trips are peaking in popularity across the country, as people look for cost-effective and convenient ways to get around with a reduced carbon footprint.

Membership of UK car clubs now stands at more than 780,000, while around 67,000 journeys are made every day through bike sharing schemes. During the English trials of electric scooters which began in 2020, more than 47 million journeys had been taken by April this year.

Our research has shown that people who use shared transportation experience many benefits. As well as reducing their own carbon footprint, they improve their mental and physical wellbeing and save money.

There are also broader implications, from freeing up space taken up by private cars in cities to reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality for all.

For businesses, there are clear benefits to helping employees increase their use of shared transportation, including reduced costs for employers and employees, freeing up space taken up by private cars in parking lots and the possibility of reducing direct and indirect costs. emissions.

Carpooling through car clubs on closed (employee-only) or open formats and carpooling, also sometimes called carpooling, are particularly relevant for fleets. Both are rethinking the role of the car away from a single-access model, which improves efficiency while reducing costs and emissions.

There are significant potential co-benefits when employers can use shared cars as a common fleet, but then open them up to the local community outside of working hours – there are a number of examples of this being a good fit. ask, but we would love to see more.

Along the same lines, we’ve also seen some closed-loop employee shuttles expand over time to become open to non-employees as well, even helping to launch publicly accessible on-demand bus systems.

As well as saving staff money and improving their wellbeing, such schemes can reduce on-site parking pressure as fewer parking spaces are required, reduce congestion and help businesses to reduce their environmental impact.

In terms of infrastructure, there is also an opportunity for companies to share existing electric vehicle (EV) charging points with local communities, or enter into mutually beneficial agreements on the location of strategic hubs where it there may be gaps in supply.

Interchange with public transport can go a long way in connecting people’s homes and workplaces to public transport hubs such as train stations, allowing them to travel great distances without defaulting to using of a private car.

Where possible, businesses should provide their staff with the information, tools and incentives they need to take advantage of shared transportation programs in their area, to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. the transition.

There is a lot of work to be done. Even as more and more people adopt a ‘light car’ lifestyle, surface transport is the UK’s highest emitting sector, responsible for 23% of our greenhouse gas emissions in 2022. Emissions have remained stubbornly high while those of other sectors have declined.

The Climate Change Commission recognized in a report last year that a transition to low-carbon travel modes, including shared transport, is an important way to reduce demand for cars, but that “there has been little progress in this direction to date.” It’s up to all of us to make up for lost time.