The innovative project has been developed by BAE Systems in partnership with Fylde Executive Cars Ltd (FEC) and aims to reduce CO2 emissions created by road transport.

FEC transport hundreds of customers and travelling employees to BAE’s Warton and Samlesbury facilities each year and the carbon offset agreement has already seen 370 trees planted.

The project relies upon TomTom’s integrated tracking and navigation system to provide accurate mileage reports for the calculation of carbon-offset rebates, which have already seen £3365 ploughed into environmental schemes.

John Coombes, managing director at Fylde Executive Cars, commented: 'The investment we have made in these new systems has helped both reduce BAE’s travel costs and the impact that its business travel has on the environment.

'TomTom’s system has helped this immensely, at the same time improving our own fleet efficiency and passenger safety.

'It has helped us provide quicker response times for customers, improve profitability and significantly reduce stress levels in the office by making existing processes smoother,' he added.

FEC’s have installed TomTom LINK boxes and GO 9000 navigation devices in each of their 23 vehicles, coupled with the WEBFLEET fleet management dashboard. The resultant cost savings and improvements in efficiency recently helped the Lytham St Annes firm expand their operations to Farnborough in Hampshire.

Its involvement in the carbon-offset scheme will see another 300 native species of trees planted across Lancashire this winter.

'James Lancaster, strategic planning manager for BAE Systems, said: 'The use of technology is vital in the company’s bid to reduce its impact on the environment. In TomTom terms we may not yet have reached our destination but, working together with suppliers such as FEC, we are certainly heading in the right direction.'