“Climate change has been confirmed as a scientific fact, according to a recent article in the New Scientist, and it is about time for business leaders to start driving climate-friendly programs.

“On June 24 the Pope published a document urging people to engage in activities which benefit and help protect the environment; carpooling being one such activity.

“There are many cost-effective solutions and programs that could be adopted by large organisations that will have a considerable impact on climate change, and carpooling is a logical and obvious solution for businesses.

“But most of the time, logical and obvious is not enough.

“I have first-hand experience of this with my own business. Over the last two years we have been speaking with organisations nationwide about the benefits of creating a paid commuter carpooling network. The benefits of incentivised carpooling are swiftly grasped by everyone, as the logic of one car transporting four people instead of the current situation where most cars just transport one, is irrefutable.

“However, while there is initially a high level of enthusiasm, this dissipates after feedback and input from one or all of HR, IT or facilities.

“In one particular case, the HR team in a hospital with over 12,000 staff with prolific car parking issues wouldn’t support employee-only carpooling  because of the spectre of corporate responsibility if a problem occurred between co-workers who share a their commute in a private vehicle.

“Faxi is working with companies that have managed to get 40% of their workforce carpooling but this can only happen if the concept is embraced and promoted by all departments.  If replicated nationwide and globally the results could potentially prove to be a global game changer, but this will need to be driven from the top down, proactively not reactively.”

Set up a free Faxi carpooling group.