Merchants Fleet Releases Inaugural ESG Report, Doubles Down on Sustainability and Diversity Commitments with Expanded Leadership
Report details strategies to create a sustainable fleet ecosystem across North America.
HOOKSETT, N.H., April 21, 2022 – Merchants Fleet, the nation’s fastest growing fleet management company, today issued its inaugural 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, highlighting its goals, strategy and plans most relevant to its business operations and stakeholders. The report acknowledges the magnitude of the environmental challenges Merchants and its clients face within the fleet industry, and also outlines ambitious goals for how it is addressing all ESG issues, both now and in the future.
“Merchants provides highly customized fleet management solutions to companies spanning more than 20 diverse industries,” said Brendan P. Keegan, chief executive officer of Merchants Fleet. “ESG is foundational to who we are as a company, how we operate as a team and the way we approach our products and services. We don’t view it as a separate effort, rather it is embedded in our daily efforts. Given our connection to the movement of people, goods and services, we strongly believe that our commitment to ESG and this report are vital factors that will ensure this free flow of resources accelerates in a responsible manner.”
The report is available for download at https://www.merchantsfleet.com/about/corporate-sustainability. Highlights from the report and 2022 commitments include:
Fleet Electrification: In 2021, Merchants committed $2.5 billion to electric vehicles (EVs), and client EV fleets drove over 5.2 million miles, thereby preventing an estimated 1,400 metrics tons of CO2 emissions. Looking ahead, Merchants plans to electrify 50% of its mobility portfolio by 2025 and electrify 50% of its fleet portfolio by 2030.
People Engagement: Merchants employees spent 8,300 hours utilizing professional development programs and courses offered by the company. In 2021, 89% of survey respondents responded that Merchants is a “great place to work” while the average for North America was 53%. In 2022, Merchants will launch a “Diversity in Fleet” initiative, designed to help level the playing field in the fleet industry and expand efforts to build and attract a diverse candidate pool.
Supplier DEI & Sustainability: Leveraging new technology that will provide better insights into Merchants’ critical suppliers and partners. In addition to its diverse set of partners, Merchants aims to add more diversity to its critical vendor list to include women-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned, LGBTQ-owned, and disability-owned businesses, as well as survey critical vendors about their sustainability practices.
Environmental Metrics: Enhance how Merchants measures and reports its impact on the planet, while helping clients to do the same. The company is actively building technology to measure and report on greenhouse gas emissions from its leased vehicles.
Ted Lague, who was recently hired as director of ESG at Merchants, spearheaded the inaugural report as a way to reinforce the company’s robust commitment to ESG. “The impact of integrating ESG with corporate strategy extends far beyond the inherent environmental, social, and corporate benefits,” said Lague. “The world is rapidly changing, causing tremendous shifts in client, investor, and employee sentiment. The opportunity to do good while simultaneously doing well, is great, and I’m thrilled to help Merchants lead the way in ESG.”
To address the climate crisis through action, Merchants purchased 2,200 metrics tons of carbon offsets in 2021 certified through the American Carbon Registry. This purchase was made on behalf of all of the guests who attended Merchants’ 2021 Fleet Summit, effectively covering their estimated greenhouse gas emissions for an entire year. The carbon credits came from a project through The Nature Conservancy at Vermont’s Burnt Mountain. Now the largest carbon project in Vermont, this newly preserved and managed land will be protected as a “forever wild” easement, , which Merchants was excited to support to not only conserve habitats and fight global climate change, but also to help provide more local recreational opportunities for American communities.
