Fewer than half of companies have targets for sustainable business travel with the higher costs associated with greener travel options remaining a barrier to the broader adoption of sustainable practices.
According to a report published by travel group BCD, although 82% of companies have sustainability goals in place, only 45% have targets for sustainable business travel. Only 20% of business travellers are aware of their company’s sustainable travel goals, it found.
Among the top three sustainability priorities, travel buyers named supporting general company sustainability goals, tracking and reporting travel sustainability, and reducing the environmental impact of business travel. More than two-thirds rated these priorities as “extremely important” or “very important”.
However, only a third of travel buyers (33%) required suppliers to have sustainability goals and commitments in place, while a quarter (25%) looked for suppliers with similar sustainability values and environmental certifications such as EcoVadis.
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Although half of companies encouraged sustainable travel, only a third promoted sustainable options at the point of booking.
Reducing travel volumes and travelling by train instead of plane were the top two options promoted by travel buyers. Additional initiatives included encouraging direct flights, combining several trips in one and limiting the number of employees on the same trip.
Travellers also mentioned sharing ground transportation and choosing economy class over business class as frequent recommendations by their companies.
More than half of travellers were willing to take fewer but longer business trips or try new, more sustainable ways of travelling, only 30% are willing to pay more for travel to include carbon offsets or flights using sustainable aviation fuel.
The surveys also revealed regional differences in sustainable practices for travellers and travel buyers. Companies in Europe focus on reducing travel volumes and travelling by train instead of plane, while flying economy class instead of business and sharing ground transportation are more common in North American companies.
Chief managing officer of Good Travel Management, Rich Quelch, told Personnel Today in response to the findings that businesses could not afford to neglect low-carbon travel. He encouraged companies to collect CO2 data, saying businesses needed to decide how they captured CO2 data and “ensure it is consistent across all departments in all other countries”.
He said businesses needed to be clear as to the objectives of business travel, with an excess of corporate travel being “likely to conflict with a company’s sustainability goals”.
It was “crucial” that businesses identified what constituted essential travel, he said.
He added that “implementing the right tools and technology can help quantify the environmental impact of business travel and can assist in evaluating the ROI from an environmental and cost perspective” and advised businesses to partner with companies to advise on CO2 emissions and how to limit them.
Algorithms would then inform the business on when a journey will go over the company’s maximum CO2 threshold, so should be declined.
“With a clearer focus on measurable objectives, companies can navigate additional costs effectively, not only achieving sustainable ROI but also staying ahead in the race for top talent and a greener, more responsible future,” said Quelch.
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