Avis Europe is a leading car rental company in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, where it operates the globally recognised Avis and Budget brands. Avis Europe holds a long-term licence to operate the two brands in these regions.

The Avis brand operates across four continents via a network of over 2,900 locations in 109 countries, through wholly-owned subsidiaries in 13 corporate countries complemented by licence arrangements in a further 96 countries.

The Budget brand, acquired by Avis Europe in March 2003, serves customers across three continents through over 900 locations in 68 countries. These are predominantly franchise businesses with corporate operations in Austria and Switzerland, together with a small number of locations in France and the UK. The Avis and Budget licenses are granted to Avis Europe by Avis Budget Group, Inc., quoted in the United States. The latter operates the two brands in the rest of the world.

Jason van Zuydam is presently the Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for Avis Europe. His particular role is focussed on Avis' corporate operations in 12 European countries.

However, he also works with team members in the USA and EAMEA. Prior to joining Avis he managed the UK Corporate Responsibility profile of an American based managed services firm. Before that he worked as a senior Environmental specialist within the South African Government. He was originally trained as an industrial wastewater microbiologist, but hung up his lab coat to explore the broader realm of environmental management.

Tell us about what are you working on right now?

"I am currently working on a targeted emissions reduction programme which will be tested on a fairly small scale with the intention of future European wide rollout."

What are the biggest challenges you face in your role and how do you deal with them?

"Geography. Because of the vast scale of the business it is difficult to gauge the needs of particular areas of the business; this also introduces language barriers and the heterogeneity of localised conditions.

"It also hampers my ability to take a more hands-on approach. This is overcome by appointing a network of local Avis people who act as a conduit of information translating not only language but local conditions as well.

"Avis is also currently introducing videoconferencing suits in most corporate country headquarters to significantly reduce the need for business travel."

What has been your most successful low carbon initiative and what made it so?

"We have had a fair number of successes in this area, including: refining our environmental data collection; promoting low carbon vehicles; trailing internal waste management programmes and supporting best practice. So it is difficult to single out a particular initiative.

"But the most visibly successful would be implementing a 'bin-less office' policy where, instead of just putting in extra recycling receptacles, we actually stripped all personal bins from under peoples' desks. This has drastically reduced the level of waste sent to landfill and has also realised significant cost savings.

"Also, revising the office lighting at our European HQ. Although this project is ongoing and isn't particularly engaging, it has the opportunity to make a significant contribution to reducing our carbon footprint.

"Ultimately, what makes these initiatives successful can be attributed to just 2 key components; senior management support and support from our people."

Are there any particular pitfalls you've encountered?

"Other than being fairly new to such a large the company and not having my internal networking fully sorted out yet, I don't think so. People at Avis are generally committed and motivated to driving sustainability, so there is a lot of support for my position."

Which emerging low carbon technology trends might be applicable to your company?

"Vehicles being the most obvious, with most - if not all - vehicle manufacturers researching and testing an array of technologies these have the potential to make the biggest impact in the rent-a-car industry.

"Also, being a retail industry with large numbers of employees, we are keeping an eye on automation, lighting and water-use."

How will the current economic climate affect the push to reduce carbon emissions?

"It will definitely help to nudge businesses in the right direction because of the close ties between resource efficiency, CO2 and cost-savings. However, tightening of budgets raises the barrier to investment in these technologies - which usually come at a premium."

How could government further encourage best company practice?

"Governments, especially in Europe, are already pretty active in encouraging and stimulating best practice. In the UK alone there are the government funded Envirowise, Carbon trust and Energy Savings Trust, plus further resources such as the Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) Scheme.

"Other governments have similar schemes and I believe that these work extremely well. Expansion of, refining, and better communicating programmes like the ECA are areas where all governments could further encourage adoption of best practice."

What advice would you give to someone taking on a role similar to yours?

"Understand your company, and build your internal network. People are much more likely to be accepting of your ideas and change if you know them.

"Start small: good initiatives will snowball if they are properly implemented.

"Engage with government and other organisations that can steer you in the right direction."

Low Carbon Board Report

Held To Account – Shareholder Activism

With climate change firmly rooted in public concerns, we can expect to see increasing demands for action to be taken. This will almost certainly include demands from shareholders for companies to report emissions and take effective action to reduce them.

Whether called ‘shareholder activism’ – as is usual in the US – or ‘shareholder engagement’ – more common in the UK – the aims are broadly the same. As the owners of a company, shareholders claim the right to influence its behaviour in a number of ways. This can include threatening to “vote with one’s feet” or divestment; lobbying company directors and management; campaigning through the traditional media or online; submitting shareholder resolutions or withholding support for directors at formal meetings; or ultimately, seeking to replace board members.

Shareholder activism came to public attention in the 1980s, most obviously in opposition to the apartheid regime of South Africa. In both the US and Europe, companies with operations or subsidiaries in South Africa came under pressure to leave, while investors were urged to drop the stocks of companies refusing to do so.

Some critics accuse such shareholders of being disruptive, uninformed, or blinkered. More soberly, it raises important and difficult questions about what powers shareholders delegate to directors, on what terms, and when direct shareholder action is justified. As a term it tends to be used to cover a wide spectrum of shareholder activities, and so simple judgments make little sense.

From resolution to information

Patricia Daly, a Dominican Sister from New Jersey has no doubt that she is doing the right thing. Having worked in Corporate Social Responsibility and Socially Responsible Investing for more than 25 years, she is now Executive Director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment (TRICRI), representing 40 Roman Catholic organisations in the New York metropolitan area.

Working in partnership with the Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility, which represents 275 faith-based institutional investors, Daly has been a key figure in campaigns such as Campaign ExxonMobil (http://www.campaignexxonmobil.org/default.asp), which aims to make the oil company more accountable for its environmental impact.

“Since the 1990s we’ve been working on global warming – since the scientific information started to come through,” she says. Initially, much of this effort focused on raising awareness of the dangers. “There’s no doubt in my mind that there were disinformation campaigns designed to undermine the scientific evidence. The result is that a lot of companies – especially in the US – are about 10 years behind,” she says.

Much of the activism in the US aims to get shareholder concerns about carbon emissions formally included in company reports. “If you hold $2,000 of stock you can legally file a resolution, which could be a request for the company to report information on emissions, for example,” she says.

How seriously a company takes a request depends partly on the support it receives from shareholders and so campaigners often co-ordinate their activities through mechanisms such as proxy votes, says Daly. “In the last year we’ve been asking for companies to go beyond disclosure, to show us mechanisms for reducing emissions, and commit to quantifiable targets,” she says. One of the companies targeted, Ford Motor Company, agreed in April 2008 to reduce the emissions of its vehicles sold in the US and Europe by at least 30% by 2020, and engage (http://www.tricri.org/documents/fordReptBusImpClimChg.pdf) with campaign groups later this year to discuss how it will assess and report progress towards this target.

While Daly is pleased by this, she concedes that all carmakers are under increasing pressure to move in this direction. “The target is probably a little better than what they would have to do anyway,” she says. TRICRI can certainly claim credit for helping to mobilise ExxonMobil shareholders. In 2007, TRICRI submitted a resolution calling on the oil company to set emissions targets, winning over 31% of voters at the AGM. It was a significant gain, particularly for a resolution calling for a policy change on this kind of issue.

From information to mitigation

In Europe, similar efforts are underway. Morley Fund Management is one of the larger players taking an active interest in socially responsible investment issues.

An asset management business owned by Aviva, Morley is one of the largest property investment managers in Europe with property assets worth £31.22 billion under management.

The company has been closely involved in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and in 2007 formulated a voting policy to promote improved disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions. “What we’ve done is look at the FTSE350, and companies that declined to respond to CDP requests, for whatever reason,” says Dr Steve Waygood, Morley’s Head of Engagement – SRI.

Morley targeted 29 persistent non-respondents, putting the case to these companies for greater transparency in their approach to climate change issues. If a company continued to ignore CDP requests, Morley said it would consider withholding support for the report and accounts at future AGMs. “This would mean either abstaining, or voting against,” says Waygood.

As a result, more than half of the companies provided a full answer to CDP requests for the first time. Of the 29 companies, 15 provided a full answer, 3 provided some information, and 1 committed to doing so in future. Morley says this information will be used in its investment analysis, and shape how it votes at future AGMs.

Engaging with companies to improve emissions data is only the first step, says Waygood. The next priorities are to develop agreed standards for data on emissions, and to assess the progress of companies in tackling them. “On the first issue a calibration system is being developed by CDP. The second is an issue that CDP is aware of. It’s been focusing on disclosure, but it’s now thinking about ways of encouraging mitigation,” he says.

Collaboration and consumers

As in the US, investors in Europe have found ways to co-ordinate their response to climate change. Chief among these is the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), established in 2001 with the aim of becoming a European forum for investors, providing the knowledge and tools needed to assess the investment implications of climate change. The group has around 50 members, managing assets worth more than £3 trillion.

The investment community is also aiming to increase public awareness of its activities, including the greener investment opportunities available to consumers. The UK Social Investment Forum (UKSIF), a membership network for sustainable and responsible financial services, is co-ordinating National Ethical Investment Week.

Running from 18 to 24 May 2008 and supported by Henderson Global Investors, Norwich Union and Friends Provident, the event is the first time the industry has come together to raise consumer awareness of such investments.

The initiative has been shaped by trends observed in consumer behaviour in addition to changing attitudes in the industry, says UKSIF Deputy Chief Executive Adam Ognall. “We looked at events like the ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’ model for promoting these services. We know people are buying fair-trade coffee, for example. We think there is a similar market for investments.”

Key questions:

· What do our shareholders see as risks to their investment?
· What steps are we taking to assess and report our emissions?
· Does our strategy place enough emphasis on sustainability?