Carbon Neutral - The Avis Approach

On 01 September 2009, Avis Rent a Car in South Africa has achieved Carbon Neutral Accreditation, by off-setting its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions for all of its internal electricity and fuel consumption to net zero. Following decades of an already strong heritage of CSR initiatives, transformation and investment, the Avis Cares program has been extended to join the international drive in tackling Global Warming and other world sustainability challenges, thereby conserving our planet for future generations.

The Avis Carbon Neutral program in broad terms, ensures that we measure our own business carbon footprint, set targets to reduce and off-set our emissions - in accordance with the International Carbon Offset and Reduction Alliance - ICROA and other international protocol applicable, which is managed for us by the CarbonNeutral Company^®. The information provided below, explains why and how Avis SA has approached and embraced Carbon Neutrality and the journey which it has set itself on as a result of this decision.

Avis' commitment is for the long term and carbon management is a key part of its business strategy. We've taken action because we believe it is the right thing to do and will continue to develop ways to minimise our impact on the environment, to help protect our planet for future generations.

Emissions reporting according to Greenhouse Gas Protocol

The Avis Carbon Neutral process has been based on the international standard Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative (GHG protocol), which is the most important standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions, developed by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The GHG protocol consists of two accounting standards explaining how to calculate and report GHG emissions.  The GHG protocol focuses its carbon inventory and reporting on three main scopes of direct and indirect emissions. The reporting considers the following greenhouse gases, all converted into CO2 equivalents: CO2, CH4 (methane), N2O  (Nitrous Oxide), SF6, HFCs and PFCs.

NOTE:  The Avis Carbon Neutral program currently only off-sets it's own internal carbon emissions in line with Scope 1 and 2 of the GHG Protocol and as such, does not off-set emissions for customers when renting Avis vehicles - which falls into Scope 3.  Avis is however, addressing areas of providing MIS to customers who require knowledge of the rental CO2 emissions and how to include these into their own off-set and reduction programs.

Global Warming

Because Avis SA voluntarily chose to off-set its total CO2 emissions related to its own business emissions, Avis increased its offset volume to 10% above the above measured carbon volume to 11,000 tonnes, through The CarbonNeutral Company, to ensure that any discrepancy which may arise after the final.

Global Fossil Carbon Emissions The average temperature of the earth's surface and oceans have varied less than one degree Celsius since the dawn of civilization, but are projected to rise by two to four degrees over the NEXT century.  The prime cause of this global warming is the build up of 'greenhouse gases' (GHG) which trap heat in the atmosphere.  Read more on Global Warming	Worldwide Carbon Reduction Targets World scientific consensus requires that  Carbon emissions need to reduce by 80% by the year 2050 and by ½ within the next 15 years.  Read more and see extrapolated graphs of reduction requirements

Use of Emission Credits to achieve Climate Neutrality

Climate neutrality means off-setting the greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) emitted from your activities by reducing an equivalent amount of emissions someplace else.  In order to become a climate neutral company, Avis has also developed a climate strategic plan which includes: (a) our carbon footprint calculation, (b) a plan to physically reduce own emissions and (c) communication both internally and externally.  We also understand the importance of evaluation and the need to repeat this going forward, with the aim of measuring any improvements on a "per business unit" (rental) basis, to ensure that our internal reduction efforts are working. 

Use of Emission Credits as a tool to Off-set Carbon Emissions

The carbon offsetting takes place by reducing the same amount of CO2 emissions  we emit, in a UN approved Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project where fossil fuel for energy  generation is used. The emission trading scheme is part of the international carbon reduction protocol's flexible mechanisms to combat global warming.

Read more on UN Emission Credits as a Tool

The Avis Carbon Neutral Journey

The journey began when the Executive team at Avis made a conscious decision at the end of the 2008 financial year (Sept 2008), to measure its carbon footprint for the period October 2007 to September 2008 - in line with the Barloworld drive to join the global drive to reduce carbon emissions.

Throughout the 2008/9 financial year, Avis South Africa refined it's CO2 emissions measurement processes.  During mid 2009, the company engaged with various Carbon Emission expert service providers, in order to appoint an organisation with whom it would partner to ensure it's own business CO2 emissions off-set program was managed in accordance with the international carbon emission reduction and off-set standards. In August 2009, Avis selected The CarbonNeutral® Company as its partner and carbon emission off-set management company. On Spring Day - 01 September 2009, following a process of auditing and assurance of its 9968 tonnes CO2 emissions for the 2009 financial year, the agreement and commitment with The CarbonNeutral® Company was signed Avis officially became Carbon Neutral accredited in line with international standards.

This means that each tonne of CO2 that Avis emits in its day to day business, is counter balanced with a tonne of CO2 saved by a validated emission reduction project that has met international standards.

The Avis Carbon Off-set Projects

Avis has selected two projects in which its carbon emissions volumes will be off-set.  In it's consideration for choice of projects, Avis realises the need to assist in clean energy generation and conversion projects in the East and Asian continents, which have the highest growth in energy consumption, combined with a lower focus on environmental issues. Global warming is a global issue, so investment in these parts of the world have the same effect as investing in carbon off-set projects closer to home.  Naturally, we would like to invest in South African accredited projects, none of which are in place as yet but will receive our support and form part of our portfolio, once these come on stream.

	Hufu Waste Heat Recovery Project This project involves constructing two turbine generators to recover waste heat and produce clean electricity at a cement manufacturing plant in the Eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.  The total emissions reduced are estimated at 40,000 tCO2 equivalent, verified to the Voluntary Carbon Standard. Read more
	Govindapuram Wind Power Project Located in the Tirunelveli and Erode districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in India, this project has a total installed capacity of 5.8 MW.  This project enables the installation of four wind turbine generators to produce clean electricity. The total emissions reductions are estimated to be 23,000 tCO2 equivalent, verified to the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS). Read more
	Uchindile and Mapanda Forestry Project This project involves the reforestation of degraded land in Tanzania to sequester carbon emissions from the atmosphere.The emissions reductions have been verified to the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS). Read more
	Energy Efficient Lighting Project Through the sale of carbon credits, the project is able to offer energy-saving bulbs at discount prices and run Environment Days to educate staff , all of which can lead to further savings. Read more
	Solar Lighting Project Carbon finance is helping communities to withdraw the traditional energy source kerosene and replace it with ‘clean’ solar energy from solar panels installed on roofs which can supply lighting and energy. Read more
	Biogas Project Anaerobic digesters have been installed and animal waste is fed directly into the digesters, where the methane is captured and used to run CHP plants. Read more

Avis an Environmentally Focused Organisation

Avis takes its environmental responsibilities seriously. We are committed to measuring the impact that our business has on the environment and taking steps to improve the situation.

Since mid 1970s Avis took up the challenge to make a difference in wildlife conservation matters and supported organisations such as the WWF, Wilderness Leadership School, SANParks and the Peace Parks Foundation, amongst other initiatives to assist with conserving our wildlife heritage for future generations. Read more In 2006 Avis planned to upgrade its vehicle preparation yards and depots around the country (2007 to 2009) and set out to introduce modern car wash facilities which minimised water usage and in addition, installed water recycling plants, which save our planet 95 million litres of water per annum. Read more
Go Green with Avis In 2007 and 2008, Avis was the first car rental company in South Africa to introduce Hybrid Vehicle technology vehicles (Toyota Prius) onto its fleet, to test the viability and application of such vehicles in the car rental market. Read more In 2008 Avis' commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility issue gains such momentum, that the Executive teams appointed Jessica Branco as it's full time Sustainability Manager.
Avis Cape Town depot now water neutral  Following the first week of winter rains in Cape Town and some additional tweaking of our new water recycling system, our facility at Cape Town International Airport is now 100% water neutral.  As one can imagine, car rental operators use a lot of water to prepare and wash their vehicles for rental. Read more

Frequently Asked Questions

The subject of Carbon Neutrality attracts a number of questions on the topic, many of which are answered here.

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