Business travel and sustainability may seem like they’re completely incompatible, but as employees get back on the road, it’s up to corporate travel teams to reconcile these two competing imperatives. Despite the adoption of virtual meeting and conference technology, it’s clear that business travel isn’t going away (which is reassuring, as I have bills to pay). Corporations must at the same time reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible, to satisfy investors, employees, government regulations and their own public image.
This isn’t a simple task, and as a result organizations may simply opt to do nothing, rather than tackle the daunting initiative in its entirety or make the wrong decisions that in turn negatively impact their business or travelers. Instead of trying to solve everything at the same time, companies should adopt an easy to follow four-step framework to start, and revisit implementing a sophisticated program once wrinkles are ironed out and adoption increases.
The four steps of this approach - which should be addressed for an overall travel strategy as well as for each trip - include:
- Avoid
This is the most straightforward aspect. Thanks (?) to Covid, we’ve already moved a huge volume of business travel from physical to virtual, and CFOs will undoubtedly want to maintain the savings that this has delivered. Keeping employees off the road should remain the top priority for minimizing carbon emissions, so organizations should determine what criteria should be fulfilled for a trip to take place. - Electrify
With more electricity being generated through renewable resources, electric-powered travel such as high speed rail typically has a far lower carbon footprint than oil-powered methods of transportation. Where possible and realistic, look for rail options instead of flying. Cars - especially rentals - should use fuel efficient models instead of opting for upgrades to larger models. - Decarbonize
If a journey needs to be made by air or other fossil-fuel powered transport, such as automobiles, aim to minimize the amount of carbon emitted. This could mean ensuring that flights are direct where possible or are made on airlines with newer, more fuel efficient fleets. - Offset
The first three pillars of the framework are aimed at minimizing the amount of carbon emitted. But knowing that any travel will result in some emissions will be generated regardless of how travel takes place, organizations should also look to mitigate these with carbon offset purchases or similar initiatives.
There are many things that companies can do on top of these to improve the sustainability of their travel programs. Some of these can be very straightforward and low-tech, such as creating awareness among employees. Others, such as analyzing carbon emissions and creating carbon budgets requires more technology and infrastructure to implement.
The one thing that they all share, is that anything which helps lower the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is a positive step. If you’d like to know more about how to make your T&E program more sustainable, please check out our very informative ebook. It outlines the framework in more depth, and offers practical advice on how to make business travel as sustainable as possible, including tips from leaders at organizations such as Nike, Microsoft and Southwest Airlines.