More than half of businesses are hampered by their ability to track and measure sustainability performance, according to a new survey from EROAD.

The results from EROAD’s second annual sustainability survey found nine in 10 businesses have already started taking action through sustainability initiatives, while 84% of businesses have seen at least one positive impact as a result of taking sustainability action.

According to the survey, three in five businesses are being asked to demonstrate sustainability performance during vendor selection processes.

More than half of businesses say they’re hampered by the ability to track and measure sustainability performance.

The survey also found thatattery electric vehicles are expected to make up almost one in three light fleet vehicles by 2025, while one in four heavy fleets expect to completely remove older Euro-3/-4 standard vehicles from their fleet by 2025.

For 84% of businesses that have started acting, sustainability initiatives have delivered tangible business benefits across a range of measures including: customer satisfaction, employee participation, brand recognition and increased productivity.

While challenges remain, one thing is clear – businesses need to start setting targets and measuring performance now or risk being overtaken by the competition. Three in five businesses say they’re asked to provide sustainability performance during vendor selection – and this rises to eight in 10 for majority heavy fleets.

Businesses that operate a fleet of vehicles, of any size or shape, will face mounting pressure to decarbonise over the next few years as customers and investors seek out organisations who can show their green credentials.

“What we’re seeing is that businesses want to do the right thing,” said Andrew Davies, EROAD general manager New Zealand.

“We’re already seeing many of our customers, including heavy transport, taking steps to make their business more efficient and transition their fleet and assets to lower emissions alternatives.”

While nine in 10 businesses say they’ve started taking action through sustainability initiatives, half of the businesses surveyed said that they struggle with either data availability, the ability to measure impact or linking sustainability to ROI.

“Tracking performance and the availability of data to measure achievement of sustainability goals is vital if businesses are to be supported in reducing emissions,” said Davies.

EROAD announced last year that it had been granted partial funding by the EECA Low Emissions Transport Fund to develop a Heavy Fleet Decarbonisation tool. The tool aims to provide insights to fleet managers that will support them to reduce their emissions and decarbonise their fleets.

“Climate change may present a number of challenges, but it is also a huge opportunity for our industry. EROAD is here to help our fleet customers to grow, adapt and make the most of that opportunity,” said Davies.

“That means our technology and products will also need to adapt and the EECA co-funded decarbonisation tool is just one of the ways we plan to do that.”

“The results from the survey show a positive shift towards a lower emissions future for our transport sector in both Australia and New Zealand. On average, businesses surveyed expect one in three light vehicles to be Battery EVs by 2025 – and 65% of heavy fleets expect to have at least one low emission vehicle within the same timeframe.

“However, when 76% of fleets expect to still be running one or more petrol/diesel vehicles by 2025 it’s important not to lose focus on other ways to reduce emissions.”