I've joked around about a $20 per mile tax on corporate jets (sorry Mr. Buffet*). I don't believe any company is serious about reducing their emissions while maintaining personal fleets.
Now remember as you look at this, we're talking about EDS, a $ 22 billion company and this is only one region. They are starting in Australia and New Zealand. A 25% reduction.
Here's the story fro0m CNN Money:
Video Conferencing Helps Global Services Company Target 25 Percent Reduction in Carbon Emissions
Verizon Video Conferencing is helping EDS, a leading global technology services company, target a 25 percent reduction in its carbon emissions in Australia and New Zealand by 2010. EDS has deployed Verizon Video Conferencing over Verizon Private IP to connect 10 of its sites across Australia and New Zealand. By increasing the use of video conferencing, EDS plans to improve collaboration across its operations, while also hoping to reduce employee air travel by nearly a third....
*In his 1986 Letter to Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, Mr. Buffet, in the smallest type readable, wrote:
We bought a corporate jet last year.
He went on to say
What you have heard about such planes is true: they are very expensive and a luxury in situations like ours where little travel to out-of-the-way places is required. And planes not only cost a lot to operate, they cost a lot just to look at. Pre-tax, cost of capital plus depreciation on a new $15 million plane probably runs $ 3 million annually. On our own plane, bought for $ 850,000 used,such costs run close to $200,000 annually.
He continued:
Cognizant of such figures, your Chairman, unfortunately, has in the past made a number of rather intemperate remarks about corporate jets...
There's more to the story, and references in the '87 and '96 annual reports and the purchase of Executive Jet Inc. in '98. I'll get to them shortly. For now, reality intrudes. By the way, if you didn't already know, he named the plane "The Indefensible".
