United Rentals Outlines Three-Way Sustainability Approach
United Rentals Inc. this week outlined the steps the company is taking to reduce the environmental impact of its operations and help its customers reduce their carbon footprint. The initiatives United Rentals is undertaking to achieve these goals are detailed in the new white paper Sustainability at United Rentals. The white paper details three focus areas:
- First, the company is looking at its own operations, focusing on how it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from non-rental fleets, buildings and operations. Reducing emissions in the United Rentals non-rental fleet is one of the top priorities. In an agreement with Ford Motor Co., United Rentals announced it is adding electric vehicles to its fleet for use by the company’s sales, service and delivery personnel. Additionally, United Rentals is adopting more efficient technologies in its buildings and properties to further reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The company has created an employee resource group called Planet United to lead and engage other employees in environmental awareness.
- Second, United Rentals is helping its customers create lower-emission worksites without compromising safety or productivity. The company continues to expand low- and zero-emissions rental equipment options in its fleet. United Rentals initiatives with Ford, Powrbank, Takeuchi, JCB and others demonstrate company commitment to provide eco-friendly equipment to the rental mix. United Rentals is working with several manufacturers to add more environmentally friendly rental equipment to its portfolio, including more electric, dual fuel or hybrid forklifts, aerial lifts and skid steers, as well as solar-powered LED light towers.
- Third, as customers build plans to achieve sustainability goals, United Rentals can help them reduce their equipment footprint by assisting with strategies, visibility and tracking. United Rentals’ cloud-based Total Control fleet management system allows customers to track engine hours and use that information to help reduce engine idling. Total Control also tracks utilization that helps users right-size fleets, which can conserve natural resources. United Rentals also recently launched Total Control Emissions Tracking, a solution that helps customers monitor and manage environmental impact.
“As a purpose-driven company committed to continuous improvement, United Rentals has set its sights on establishing new, environmentally sound ways of operating,” said Grant Zoldowski, director, environmental management, United Rentals. “As an industry leader, we are using our position to support sustainable changes on construction and industrial worksites. Together with our customers and OEM partners, we can Work United to leave a lighter footprint on the planet and build a better, more sustainable future.”
United Rentals believes everyone has a role to play in minimizing contributions to global GHG emissions. The company recognizes it has a responsibility, and opportunity, to help build a cleaner economy. United Rentals is committed to reducing its GHG emissions intensity by 35 percent by 2030, from a 2018 baseline. United Rentals outlined its approach in its recent Corporate Responsibility Report.
Headquartered in Stamford, Conn., United Rentals, No. 1 on the RER 100, has 1,331 rental locations in North America, 13 in Europe, 28 in Australia and 18 in New Zealand.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.