Environmental Impacts

We remain committed to reducing, where possible, our negative impacts on the environment, of which by far the greatest are greenhouse gas emissions. Our European corporate operations and some of our licensees are CarbonNeutral® and we continue to introduce less polluting vehicles onto our fleet.

We measure these impacts internally and the data is reviewed and analysed by the independent Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management working with The CarbonNeutral Company.

In 2007 emissions from our corporately-owned operations amounted to 13,285 tonnes of CO2, a reduction of 4.5% on 2006 figures.

Year of assessment	Total (tCO2e)*
2003	14,552
2004	15,711
2005	12,814
2006**	13,913
2007	13,285

* Data for prior years is restated as a result of the increased accuracy in the data collection process. Restatements primarily relate to data submitted by Germany.

** From 2006 onwards, the data includes emissions from our call centre in Barcelona and our shared service centre in Budapest.

Corporate operations

In 2007, our corporate operations took a series of steps to improve environmental performance, including:

beginning the integration of environmental reporting into financial reporting using a new finance system, which will track utility use and business travel;
successfully implementing both environmental and quality management systems in Spain, which have been successfully certified to ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 respectively;
increasing the use of videoconferencing between our Group headquarters in Bracknell and our other country corporate head offices; and
making better use of resources and informing all staff aware of what they can do to reduce energy use.

We offset our emissions in 2007 in conjunction with The Carbon Neutral Company. An increased proportion, some 90% of the total, was through renewable energy and technology projects. Of these, 10% qualified as Kyoto Protocol compliant credits. The remaining offset was via tree planting. In total, we have offset over 108,000 tonnes of CO₂.

In addition, Avis Norway and Sweden maintain their eco ISO 14001 standard and Spain implemented management systems in accordance with ISO 9001 and 14001 in 2007.

Fleet operations

In addition to the "Green" credentials of our fleets, we also optimise the management thereof to ensure that all vehicles are well maintained and changed regularly to ensure they operate as efficiently as possible. We also seek to minimise emissions from our fleet by introducing more environmentally friendly vehicles in more locations. In 2007 they have included:

Ford flexi-fuel cars in France
LPG fuelled Volkswagens in Italy
BMW 1 series with stop-start technology in Spain
Honda Civic hybrids in Germany and Portugal
Toyota Prius in the UK

As a result of these and other changes, a significant proportion of 2007 fleet purchases already emit below 140 gCO₂ per km (the European norm for 2008/9).

Our customers

In 2007, we have begun to provide several major clients with data, which allows them to quantify easily their carbon emissions from Avis rentals. We will work with such clients to reduce their carbon footprint in future years.

We are also helping individual customers to reduce their environmental impact. Our redesigned website makes it easier for them to make their journey carbon neutral when they book online. For the second year running, the number of customers using this service has risen by over 20% and continues to increase.

In Paris the OKIGO initiative, undertaken jointly with Vinci Park, allows customers who pay a subscription to have an Avis car available 24/7 in one of the many Vinci car parks. Since the launch of OKIGO in July 2007, with 20 cars in four car parks in Paris, it has already recruited over 500 members and expanded outside of Paris. Studies show that sharing a car in this way effectively replaces up to eight individual cars.

Case Study

Rhine-Ruhr Waste Gas Power Project, Germany

During 2007 Avis helped fund a project to capture methane from three abandoned coal mines in the Rhine and Ruhr.

The methane, which is 21 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, is used to generate electricity and heat. The electricity is sold to the grid and the heat used in a local district heating scheme. However, income from the sale of the electricity and heat does not provide an economic return. The Avis assisted funding helps make the project become financially viable.

Avis Europe plc, Incorporated and registered in England and Wales.
Registered Office: Avis House, Park Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 2EW.
Registered Number: 3311438.