City Employees commuted a distance corresponding to 235 marathons without carbon emissions

City Employees commuted a distance corresponding to 235 marathons
without carbon emissions

In only 10 weeks, employees of the City of Gothenburg have succeeded in
reducing their carbon emissions through changes in their commuting
habits using Commute Greener, a new mobile phone and web application
from Volvo IT.  One of the groups actually succeeded in reducing its
carbon emissions by as much as two thirds. To date, 9,900 zero-emission
kilometers have been registered - a distance corresponding to 235
marathons.

The balance between the growing need for transport, on the one hand, and
the environment and health, on the other, poses a constant challenge for
municipal planners, logistics specialists, companies and the producers
of transport solutions. Commute Greener has proven to influence people's
awareness and to generate measurable results by making individuals aware
of their own carbon emissions.

The technology is being used by the City of Gothenburg in Sweden, which
is offering Commute Greener to employees in a suburb as well as at a
public office. The participants were put into some 50 different groups,
each containing between five and 50 people. They all began by entering
their normal travel patterns into the web/mobile-phone software and
thereby received an individual carbon footprint. At the same time, they
set a target for reducing their carbon emissions; each individual
kilogram of carbon dioxide was calculated. The average target was a
reduction of around 10%, which corresponded, for example, to leaving the
car at home for one day every second week. Most of the groups have
surpassed their targets. Within the space of ten weeks, one group had
managed to smash its reduction target; the group members reduced their
carbon emissions by 67%.

“Great fun!” says Marja Högberg, environmental co-ordinator at
Biskopsgården. “Every kilogram of carbon dioxide was counted and I think
it gave many people a new understanding and insight. The opportunity to
set your own targets and then follow the difference every single one of
us makes, is really stimulating. We would like to continue using Commute
Greener.”

To date, around 9,900 “zero-emission kilometers” (more than 6150 Zero
emission miles) have been registered by the employees of the City of
Gothenburg. Increasing the number of pedestrians and cyclists is not
only good for the environment, it also has a positive impact on health
and saving fuel money.

“People are motivated by different things. The environment is important
to everyone, but, on a personal level, it may well be a person's own
health or economic situation that finally encourages them to change
their behaviour,” says Magnus Kuschel, Managing Director for Commute
Greener at Volvo IT. “For an urban planner, the important thing may be
to reduce emissions or congestion in transport systems and avoid
large-scale investments in the road network. For companies it is a way
to reduce their carbon footprint at the same time as building team
spirit. It involves more than simply improving the environment. It's
also a question of creating a better society and enhancing quality of
life.”

To make the daily commute more enjoyable, Commute Greener offers
functions in social networks like Facebook, to share experiences and
motivate people to improve their commuting habits.

“We have been working on campaigns of different types for several years
with the aim of reaching the general public,” says Petter Kjellgren at
the Traffic and Public Transport Authority in the City of Gothenburg.
“Commute Greener gives us a new opportunity to involve, quantify,
measure and follow up results. As there has never previously been a
service like Commute Greener, we have also been involved in the
development work.”

Local authorities, government agencies, companies and individuals all
over the world share the same concern when it comes to transport and
climate challenges. Commute Greener has shown that it is able to bring
about changes in behaviour that result in better transportation
solutions and help to produce sustainable development. At the present
time, there are users in some 20 countries and Volvo IT has signed
agreements with a number of cities and companies in different countries
relating to the use of Commute Greener.

September 23, 2010

Reporters who want more information, please contact:
Jan Strandhede, Volvo IT, media relations manager, +46 31 323 37 15,
jan.strandhede@volvo.com (jan.strandhede@volvo.com)

For pictures, go to the AB Volvo image
gallery (http://imagegallery.volvogroup.volvo.se/CumulusE_Z/VolvoGroup_I
mageGallery/Login2.jsp?assets=G2009_1349;G2009_1350;G2009_1352;G2009_135
3)

You can find more information about Commute Greener using this link:
http://www.commutegreener.com/ (http://www.commutegreener.com/)

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 Volvo Information Technology AB is a wholly owned subsidiary of AB
Volvo.  With its roots in the automotive industry, the company today
delivers IT solutions and services for all types of companies and
organisations. Its customers include AB Volvo, Ford Motor Company, Volvo
Car Corporation, SCA, Assa Abloy, the City of Stockholm, the City of
Göteborg and other large operations within industry and the public
sector. In 2009, Volvo IT's global operations generated a turnover of
SEK 7.5 billion and the company had more than 5,000 employees in Europe,
North America, South America and Asia.