CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT
Sustainable Environment
Energy & Emissions
For nearly 140 years, we have built our business on valuing the natural capital of trees, plant life and animal habitats created for our homes and communities. As we begin to see evidence of a changing climate in our work and research, we have the capability and responsibility to act on climate change and create positive impacts through our environmental services. In addition, we will continue to work internally to reduce our carbon emissions and fossil fuel use.
Management Approach
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Each day, our employees travel across North America, providing our clients proven solutions for a growing world. In fact, Davey operates one of the 50 largest corporate fleets in the U.S., with over 13,000 vehicles traveling more than 50 million miles each year.
2021 Global Fleet Fuel Use*
Custom Metric
| VEHICLE CATEGORY | # of Vehicles | Fuel Gallons |
| Cars, Light Trucks and Vans | 3,525 | 3,348,894 |
| Super Duty | 712 | 1,202,735 |
| Medium Duty | 160 | 239,958 |
| Heavy Duty | 3,009 | 3,850,242 |
| Chippers and Grinders | 1,420 | 475,790 |
| Off Road, Turf Equipment, Misc Powered Equipment | 3,590 | 268,284 |
| Other | 764 | 307,958 |
| Bulk Fuel | NA | 3,814,752 |
| Total | 13,180 | 13,508,613 |
The energy use and affiliated emissions from our fleet of vehicles and field equipment represent approximately 95 percent of our total Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Therefore, managing our fleet and equipment—ensuring each item is properly used, as well as serviced regularly and maintained—offers the most actionable opportunity to decrease our emissions and energy use.
Fleet Energy (GJ in thousands)
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Fleet Emissions (MTCO2E in thousands)
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*2013-2016 data updated to reflect 2017 methodology, which uses the World Resources Institute (2015) GHG Protocol Tool for mobile combustion, Version 2.6.
In 2017, we established a bold goal to reduce our global fleet fuel consumption by 35 percent per labor hour by 2023 from a 2017 baseline. We are investigating several mechanisms to achieve this goal, including:
- Renewable and alternative fuels
- Telematics and driver behavior monitoring
- Energy efficiency and route optimization
- Partnering to innovate and acquire environmentally friendly equipment
In 2020 we started investigating the electrification of our fleet and continue to research alternative fuels, lithium-ion tools, and autonomous technology for the right fit in our operations.
Global Fleet Fuel Use per Labor Hour
Custom Metric
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
| Total Global Fleet Fuel Use (U.S. Gallons) | 10,349,703 | 10,863,598 | 12,642,575 | 12,910,390 | 13,508,613 |
| Total Labor Hours (Hours) | 12,212,869 | 13,594,671 | 16,955,968 | 16,486,481 | 21,199,649 |
| Global Fleet Fuel Use per Labor Hour (U.S. Gallons per Hour) | 0.847 | 0.799 | 0.746 | 0.783 | 0.64 |
We attribute our increased fuel use in 2021 to our COVID-19 safety protocols of having one employee per service vehicle to maintain social distancing.
In 2021, Davey continued converting its sales fleet of more than 240 vehicles to the Toyota Rav4 LE Hybrid SUV model. A top safety pick, the hybrid Rav4 is all-wheel drive with a combined average gas mileage of 39 miles per gallon, a huge savings compared with the average 24 mpg of the previously used Ford Escape.
That equates to more than 100,000 gallons of fuel expected to be saved per year. We started introducing electric vehicles to our DRG Asset Management.
In 2021 The Davey Institute published the “Davey Climate Change Fact Sheet Series” detailing the projected impacts a changing climate will have on the seven major geographic regions in the U.S. To read a fact sheet for a U.S. region, or the series’ executive summary, go to: www.davey.com/climate