Case studies 2/9


Trust to undertake a series of site visits, with participants split into three groups, which received varying levels of support. Staff within the first group were given training on energy management; the sec- ond was also supported by monitoring kit, and the third benefited from both, as well as a full survey carried out by the Trust and resulting in site-specific recommendations for action.


“By far the best” results were achieved by the third group, and Toyota realised it could achieve significant energy use reductions with minimal capital investment. The decision was made to roll out combined support to all dealerships in the UK.


CSR manager, Thomas Rosselle, says: “From an environmental point of view, if we are to be serious about our claim to be leaders in the field, this was an area where we needed to act. But also, roughly £6M is being spent on energy, which makes it a major area of expenditure.” Toyota is fairly typical of the automotive industry in that it does not directly own its retailers, which are operated by a mix of small family businesses, regional groups that may own a number of dealerships, often across different makes of vehicle, and large international compa- nies owning hundreds – if not thousands – of retail operations.


While this means dealers pay for their own electricity and were generally receptive to offers of support in bringing their bills down, a business model of hundreds of independent retailers created its own challenges. Rosselle says: “On the whole, dealerships were very receptive, but that doesn’t mean the programme didn’t require some hard work in terms of co-ordinating 230 different operations. “But we succeeded by stressing the link between the programme and our overall commercial strategy on green vehicles, which meant the dealers under- stood their premises play an important part in our approach.


“We made it clear the dealerships are as much a part of the 360-degree story as our factories. Winning over hearts and minds meant convincing operators they have a role to play in the environmental strategy of the company.


“And equally importantly, we clearly articulated the business case in terms of financial savings.” While early results suggest the pro- gramme is on track to achieve its goals, implementation took a full year longer than had initially been anticipated, as Toyota worked to overcome a number of challenges. “If you want to be transparent and


honest with the public, you need to base the measurement of improvements on a meaningful benchmark,” Rosselle says. “The challenge we faced was gathering historic energy consumption data before we could begin – and with 230 dealer- ships it wasn’t easy.” The second hurdle was installation of the energy monitoring equipment itself, which proved straightforward in the majority of cases, and far from it in a minority.


Rosselle says: “We probably achieved 80% of installations in 20% of the time we spent, and 80% on the one-fifth of


Toyota UK


Sector: Automotive Area of focus: Energy use Amount invested: £500,000 Suppliers: Carbon Trust, ABS Consulting, Purchase Direct Sustainability report: Click here

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