Brand Emissions

European transport group Arriva plc has been named a Brand Emissions Leader for its performance in cutting its greenhouse gas emissions intensity and putting ambitious targets in place for further reductions.

Researchers at the Edinburgh University Business School and ENDS Carbon, a specialist carbon ratings agency, analysed the carbon emissions performance and published targets of more than 600 household names, with just 121 meeting the standard to be judged Brand Emissions Leaders.

In the transport sector Arriva was identified as a Brand Emissions Leader – the survey’s highest ranking – alongside Eurostar and Eurotunnel Group who were named best of sector.

In 2008 Arriva set itself a challenge of reducing its like-for-like greenhouse gas emissions footprint by 15 per cent, by 2012, from a 2006 base level. 

Arriva Plc chief executive David Martin said: “Even though bus and rail services already have many environmental advantages over some other modes of transport, we still believe it is important to improve the efficiency of our own operations.  Arriva is rapidly deploying a range of carbon reduction technologies in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. These including aids to more economical, smoother driving; a wide range of alternative fuels; and advanced hybrid vehicles. It’s rewarding to see our efforts recognised in this survey which puts us alongside some of the best respected household names.”

The first annual Brand Emissions Leaders Report was commissioned by Marketing magazine and Brand Republic. The research was conducted using data from the Carbon Disclosure Project (the largest carbon database in the world), and a survey of company websites and reports.

The organisations identified as Brand Emissions Leaders were judged to have demonstrated they are reducing emissions and have ambitious targets in line with the UK Government’s Copenhagen goal of 34 per cent carbon emissions reductions by 2020 from 1990 levels.

Content references:

• Contact: Corporate Communications, Arriva plc on +44 (0)191 520 4106.
• Details on the Brand Emissions Leader ratings method and full list of brands is available at: http://www.brandemissions.com/
• Transport sector findings are at: http://www.brandemissions.com/pdf/BrandEmissions_Rail&Other.pdf
• The analysis was conducted by Dr Craig Mackenzie at Edinburgh University Business School and the ENDS Carbon team lead by Research Manager, Dermot Hikisch. Dr. Mackenzie is one of the UK’s leading corporate responsibility ratings experts (a designer for FTSE4Good, the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index, and the recent UK Supermarkets Carbon Benchmark). ENDS Carbon is a specialist carbon ratings agency backed by Environmental Data Services (ENDS) and the University of Edinburgh.