Laing O'Rourke moves to electric company car fleet to cut emissions

Laing O’Rourke is set to save up to 1,000 tonnes of carbon per annum through its new company car scheme*, which will see its employees move from diesel and petrol cars to plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. The company will complete its transition to an all-electric fleet by 2025.

The change is part of Laing O’Rourke’s work to accelerate the reduction of CO2 emissions from its operations, as the company increases its focus on sustainability and plots a route to becoming a net zero company.

Laing O’Rourke’s Group Director, Madeleina Loughrey-Grant said: “We, our clients and other stakeholders are all very aware of the climate emergency and that all businesses need to do more to reduce emissions. Moving to a plug-in hybrid and electric only company car fleet is welcome and an important step towards having a fully electric company car fleet by 2025, which will reduce emissions from our company cars by 70% compared to 2019.”

Access to charging points remains a concern for many people considering electric vehicles and the company will install additional charging points at its main offices around the country. It is also partnering with an external company to support employees with the installation of charging points at their home addresses.

This news comes on the back of Select Plant Hire, one of Laing O’Rourke’s specialist trading businesses, buying the world’s first electric crawler crane in December. The Liebherr LR1250.1 250t lattice jib crawler crane not only produces zero emissions but also matches the performance of its diesel-powered counterparts, whether it is unplugged or plugged in.

Laing O’Rourke will publish a new global sustainability strategy to coincide with the start of the financial year in April, which will include targets for achieving net zero and aligned with what the latest climate science deems necessary to meet the most aspirational goal of The Paris Agreement – to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

_{*estimate based on 2019 company car usage data and November 2020 survey of company car users to determine likely PHEV and EV uptake.}