Bridge Builders Award

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, for building a greener America by collaborating with numerous national partners on initiatives that make the company a leader in environmentally friendly programs and fuel-efficient vehicles, including a partnership with the National Arbor Day Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

At a time when companies across corporate America were jockeying to be “greener” than the competition, the company that held the largest vehicle fleet on the planet recognized that they could become a leader and model by investing in environmental initiatives and bringing together public, private, and nonprofit sectors to ensure that they were a part of the solution, not the problem. As a result of this decision, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has already made significant contributions to sustainability in their industry.

In 2007, the Taylor family—which owns Enterprise Rent-A-Car—purchased National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car. Overnight, what had already been the largest vehicle fleet surpassed 1 million cars. Enterprise Chairman Andrew Taylor took stock of the environmental impact of those vehicles in addition to the opportunity to take a substantive leadership position on the environment. Building on the world’s largest fleet of fuel efficient vehicles, and a growing record of support for environmental initiatives that topped $100 million, the company codified its far-reaching stewardship commitment into a formal platform by reaching out to address problems in the parts of the world the company touches with its business.

In the process of formalizing the planks of this platform, Enterprise Rent-A-Car also recognized the opportunity to play a constructive role as a catalyst—bringing together the public, private, and non-profit sectors to address issues that concern everyone. Two of their five major planks included such partnerships. The first provides funding for renewable fuels research through a $25 million gift that created the Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, which will endow a team of researchers to significantly expand the Danforth Center’s renewable biofuels research capabilities. The second provides funding for the planting of 50 million trees over the next 50 years through a $50 million investment to the Arbor Day Foundation, who will work to plant these trees with the U.S. Forest Service as part of the 50Million Tree Pledge.

With these initiatives, in addition to other parts of their platform such as investment in fuel efficiency; embracing new, clean technologies such as E85-capable FlexFuel vehicles and hybrid vehicles; and launching a carbon offset program for customers that includes a matching program for additional projects, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has become an environmental model for its entire industry, gaining the attention and praise of media, customers, and environmentalists alike.