Model Policy

Transport Environmental Policy

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Issued September 2021

Notes on this policy

This general transport environmental policy should state clearly how the business will reduce and continually improve
the environmental impact of its transport use.

In most organisations, transport-related environmental impacts will arise due to several activities, for example:

 Travel by employees between work and home.

 Business travel, such as employees travelling to meetings (including journeys made by air).
 Deliveries made by goods and service vehicles operating as part of the organisation’s activities.
 Travel by visitors to and from a particular site, e.g. visitors to a workplace, shoppers to a retail outlet, patients
to a hospital and tourists to a leisure attraction.
 Deliveries to the site made on behalf of another organisation.

This policy should be integrated into staff development, working procedures, business strategies and action plans.

Notes on how to use this template:

This template is written as an example. It is generally signed-off at Board level by the CEO or MD. You may need to
divide the responsibilities between the roles within your organisation or include additional responsibilities. It can be
tailored to reflect the particular needs and structure of your organisation.

Note that the term ‘business’ has been used throughout and should be replaced as necessary with a term to reflect
the corporate body involved eg Company, Organisation, Partnership.

Transport Environmental Policy

[Business name] is a [business description] business, operating from a site/office in [name of town/city]. Our main
services are [list services here]. We recognise that in our day-to-day transport operations we inevitably have an
impact on the environment.
This policy seeks to promote the integration of transport initiatives and environmental management plans and to help
us identify and manage the environmental impacts of our transport operations that is consistent with managing the
other environmental aspects of our operations.
We aim to bring about behavioural change by informing employees and other stakeholders about the consequences
of their transport choices, and potentially persuading them to change their behaviour. These measures may include
car-sharing, or homeworking, as well as the provision of general information to raise awareness.
Responsibilities
This general transport environmental policy applies to our transport-related environmental impacts. [Name and title]
has overall responsibility for ensuring that sufficient resources are made available to enable the business to achieve
the objectives and targets set out and that the policy is implemented.
[Name and title] has the day to day responsibility for ensuring that the requirements of this policy are being followed
and for monitoring the effectiveness of the objectives.
However, all employees have a responsibility in their area to ensure that the aims and objectives of the policy are
met, and to undertake any training that is offered.
Legal Compliance
We commit to effectively manage our significant environmental impacts and to comply with environmental
legislation and other requirements, such as approved codes of practice, standards and/or industry guidelines. The
establishment of relevant environmental legal and regulatory requirements will include transport-related
requirements.
Aspects and Impacts Assessment

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We will evaluate whether our transport related environmental impacts are significant within the context of our overall
environmental impact. Consideration will be given to where and how much use of transport occurs in our activities.
We will determine the severity of actual and potential environmental threats of our transport-related activities and
processes etc by undertaking an aspects and impacts assessment.
(NB. Aspects are the ‘cause’ of an environmental impact. Impacts usually cannot be managed or controlled directly,
but something can be done about the aspects that generate the impacts. Environmental aspects also include
measures already taken to prevent or reduce pollution.)
[Name and title] is responsible for the assessment, by first identifying all business transport related activities and the
risks to the environment that they pose.
If transport-related impacts have been identified as being significant, measures to manage these impacts will be
established. For example, implementation of:

 A staff survey: to find out about journey to/from work patterns.

 A travel plan: measures tailored to the needs of individual sites of the business aimed at promoting more
environmentally friendly travel choices and reducing car reliance.

 A fuel or fleet management strategy: measures aimed at minimising fuel consumption and minimising the
amount of traffic generated by the business.

Managing and Reducing Transport-related Environmental Impacts

To reduce transport-related environmental impacts, [Name of business] will take into consideration the following:
[delete if not appropriate]
Staff and Business Travel:

 Reduce the need for transport in the first place, with policies such as encouraging employees to walk/cycle
to work, homeworking/hybrid working policies.
 Implement targets to reduce staff travel (reduce business travel by car and encourage use of public
transport, car sharing scheme, etc).

 Implement targets to reduce business travel (promote use of public transport, reduce the impact of each
driven mile, developing ‘green’ fleet practices, etc).

 Reduce vehicle emissions to air (implement targets to reduce air miles travelled, etc).

Fleet Management:

 Regularly maintain and service all company vehicles to ensure their efficiency and minimise GHG emissions.
 Ensure that our partners are undertaking vehicle servicing and repairs in an environmentally friendly way,
ensuring that all waste vehicle oil is disposed of correctly using a licensed operator specialising in waste oil
disposal.

 Only procure new vehicles that comply with the latest emission and noise specifications.

 Take account of environmental considerations such as developments in fuel and vehicle technology, when
acquiring new company vehicles.

 Control, monitor and reduce the fuel consumption and emission levels of all our vehicles.

 Give due consideration to alternative fuels.

Transport of Goods:

 Ensure that vehicle weights remain within legal restrictions, limiting damage to roads and the environment,
and optimising the transport of goods.

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  Optimise our routes through technology and/or tracking systems to reduce noise pollution and diesel
consumption.

 Use local suppliers in order to reduce transport requirements during procurement.

Training:

 Encourage good driving practice and road safety by providing a high standard of training and monitoring.
 Provide a high standard of driver training in order to encourage better fuel economy and reduce emission
levels.

 Educate our staff on what each individual can do to help the environment through transport choices.

Legislative Considerations:

 Listen to Government, whether local or national, on their views on what we can do to reduce our carbon
footprint.
 Ensure all vehicles are compliant with any relevant Low Emission Zones.

 Consider other environmentally friendly practices as they become known, and take account of local authority
and community initiatives.

 Take all reasonable steps to ensure that any hazardous goods carried are properly packaged in accordance
with relevant national and international legislation.

Visitor Travel:

 Regularly review visitor records to address visitor travel and its extent.
 Publicise alternative travel arrangements to visitors through our website/marketing material/meeting
invitation information/etc.

 Encourage visitors to use public transport when travelling to our sites/offices by including public transport
routes and information on maps via our website/marketing material.

Continuous Improvement
We commit to continually improving general transport environmental performance at the highest level in our
business. We will develop a corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy and a sustainable approach by:

· Dealing with suppliers and employees in a responsible way and going beyond the legal minimum when
promoting best practice.
· Building up a good relationship with the local community.

· Involving employees and other stakeholders in decision-making, for example with implementing travel
targets and initiatives.

Monitoring and Auditing

We will periodically review the general transport environmental policy to assess whether it is effective, or whether it
requires adjustment. This will include making sure the objectives of the policy are being met and environmental
aspects and their significance are being properly identified. It will also check that operational controls put in place are
being effective, and any necessary corrective actions are taking place when required. Internal audit procedures will
identify areas of non-conformance.
The review will look to see that environmental targets and objectives for transport clearly relate to specific regulations
and our commercial goals.
Policy goals will be sufficiently specific, so that objectives and targets can be set for achieving them. Progress will be
monitored by:

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 · Annual management review (in the first six months initially) of this environmental policy and any associated
environmental procedures.

· Regular internal audits [specify review period] of environmental procedures.

· Reviewing environmental objectives and associated targets.

· Monthly management meetings.

Signed ____________
[Name and position] [Date]

(Note that this policy should be signed by the most senior person in the business eg Chief Executive, Managing
Director, Managing Partner)

For a more detailed review of quality management read the Barbour Guide on: Environmental Management
Systems: ISO 14001, EMAS, benefits and overview.

External certification of any environmental management system will help demonstrate to customers, investors,
regulators and other stakeholders that the environmental claims you make in your policy are credible, reliable and
have been independently checked.

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