Suitable Transport Challenge!

Every day we hear more dire news describing the effects of the 250,000,000 or so tonnes of CO2 that we Australian’s pour into the atmosphere every year. The average person who works for a company probably feels pretty powerless to do much good when there is a problem so large. This leads to poor morale and low self esteem: for your company, that can be bad for business.

Here is way that your company can give back some strength to their employees, and start making big cuts in that awful number.

In the Suitable Transport Challenge, the employer “sponsors” employees’ who reduce their driving in the form of Greenhouse Gas Abatement certificates. We plan to set up an easy means to help employers track the effective km traveled by “Suitable” means (car pooling, an efficient car, a bike, public transport etc) compared to “Unsuitable” means – i.e. 1 person driving a standard car to work. For example: 2 people traveling 1km in a car pool – they get 0.5km each. One person traveling 1km by public transport – they get a full 1km. And of course if they ride an electric bike – well, you probably want to take them out to dinner!

On a regular basis the Employer rewards the Employee by publicly acknowledging any travel by alternative (and suitable) transport means and equaling their CO2 savings by buying Greenhouse Gas Abatement from a credited supplier. You have not only helped the environment by persuading your employee to pull a car out of the picture, you have also made an equal contribution somewhere else by funding a program such as a forestry planting or methane gas capture.

The scheme will offer a convenient means to allow employees to compete with each other. The employer might offer a regular prize for best new improvement, most unlikely participant or highest percentage of trips. The rewards that this might bring in terms of morale boosting, team building and showing a public commitment to the environment is bound to give productivity improvements worth much more than the small costs involved.

How much will it cost the employer?

For a company of 50 employees who live an average of 10km from work, the abatement will cost around $1200 per annum, if everybody stops using their cars every day. While this would be a fantastic result – this is unlikely to happen just yet, so it will cost you less.

We can’t do this on our own, so we are meeting with greenhouse gas abatement providers, members of the State and Federal government and large employers. If you feel you can help – we want to talk, soon!

There is a lot riding on this.