Enterprise Car Rental and its US subsidiaries have this week announced they are to offer a voluntary carbon offsetting program to customers from January, giving clients the option to cut their carbon footprint.
Set to be available at participating locations in the US and Canada from January, Enterprise said it will extend the scheme to Europe in mid-2008.
The company added its new "voluntary carbon offset programme", which will also be offered by its subsidiaries National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, will be the biggest in the industry.
"This carbon offset programme empowers customers to make a choice and address the impact of automobile emissions on climate change," said Andy Taylor, chief executive of Enterprise. "We are also committed to match their offset purchases up to $1m."
Administered by carbon offset specialist TerraPass, the program will be available to customers while reserving their car either online or by phone and will offer them the opportunity to contribute $1.25 per hire to an offset scheme.
With up to 25 million customers annually, Enterprise will be hoping the low cost of its offsets will encourage widespread take up.
However, Enterprise's vice president of corporate responsibility and communications, Pat Farrell, admitted that the donation was unlikely to completely offset most customers' journeys.
"If each and every one of the renters we reach opts in the program, along with the company match we could offset approximately half the carbon produced by the combined Enterprise, National and Alamo fleet," he said.
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