Yorkshire-based Clipper 玩嘉电竞 Group, the leading provider of retail and high-value logistics, has teamed up with Councils across South Yorkshire to help launch the ECO Stars Fleet Recognition scheme.
The initiative, the first of its kind in the UK, has been set up by South Yorkshire’s Care4Air campaign, which aims to raise awareness of air quality issues across the region. The ECO (Efficient and Cleaner Operations) Stars scheme aims to encourage businesses to shape up their fleets’ fuel management in line with green legislation to help improve local air quality. Participants will be measured on three, four and five star criteria levels that will recognise operational and environmental performance.
Clipper 玩嘉电竞 Group is the first organisation to join the scheme, and has been awarded the four star rating. Clipper will work in partnership with the councils to motivate other businesses across the region to boost fuel efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and lower carbon emissions. Councillors from Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster Councils launched the scheme at Clipper’s Rotherham site.
Clipper has a strong track record of green operations, and developed the groundbreaking Meadowhall Consolidation Centre to support Sheffield’s Meadowhall Shopping Centre, in response to growing consumer demand for greater volumes of product. Clipper’s solution significantly streamlined the delivery process and reduced the Meadowhall centre’s carbon footprint thanks to the shared-user service, as well as reducing pollution from packing waste around the site.
The ECO Stars Fleet Recognition scheme is available to fleets including LGVs, buses and coaches that have implemented lower polluting vehicles and that are working with fuel management programmes and other best practice measures that will improve local air quality. The assessment will cover individual vehicles as well as organisations’ overall road transport operation, and participants will benefit from bespoke action plans to help them progress to the next rating.
Clipper’s managing director, Tony Mannix, commented: “Clipper’s role as an ambassador for the scheme is an important one and we look forward to many more organisations joining us. The ECO Stars initiative is a great opportunity for Yorkshire fleets to review their environmental efficiency and improve their green credentials as well as boosting their business performance. By stipulating Euro 5 engines in all of our new vehicles, and improving our fuel management systems, we expect to see a reduction in operational costs, as well as playing our part in benefiting the region’s air quality. We look forward to achieving a five star rating in the coming months.”
Councillor Colin France, Climate Change and Local Environment advisor for Sheffield City Council, added: “Clipper is a leading Yorkshire business with a strong record of operational and environmental performance, which we hope will encourage other organisations across the region to enter into the ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme. By celebrating their own green credentials and working with our experts to raise fuel efficiency, all participants in the scheme will play a part in improving the air quality across South Yorkshire.”
