Politicians just do not seem to care about green issues any more. Seriously, that is what you might think, from all the attention that climate change received during the endless election campaigning. Even the Green Party preferred to concentrate on the NHS, the economy, anything except sustainability.

The reality is that there are not as many votes in sustainability as in the headline issues. Behind the campaigning, all of the parties remain committed to meeting the emissions targets from Kyoto. This is why, without fanfare, the Carbon Tax was doubled overnight earlier this year, as previously warned. Even the latest Budget managed to find room for slowing the benefit-in-kind tax raises for ultra-low emissions vehicles.

So, if everyone believes in sustainability but nobody has been talking about it, what are we to think?

It means what it always means at election time. Everyone climbs onto their soapboxes and yells about whatever they think will attract the most votes. Then, it is back to business as usual, once the music has stopped on the parliamentary musical chairs.

For anyone with vehicles to manage, in either the private or public sector, that amounts to ever increasing pressure to show improvement on sustainability. At the moment, this is mostly – but certainly not wholly – focused upon monitoring exhaust emissions. The Environment Agency might only be targeting large organisations with compulsory annual energy audits, so far, but nobody really expects SMEs to remain outside the scope forever.

The only thing that a fleet manager, transport manager – or whichever function is responsible for the vehicles – can do is to create a sustainability strategy, then implement it. The best time to start doing this, of course, is probably a year or two ago, but every day’s delay makes the job tougher.

There is a new online flip-book from The Green Journey which can help, offering useful information and advice on improving fleet sustainability. Read it, free: http://ow.ly/Nu3Eq.