Making Business Travel More Sustainable

Making business travel more sustainable requires adopting strategies that minimise the environmental impact of the travelling while, at the same time, maintaining the productivity of your workforce and enabling your business to expand into new markets in other locations. Sometimes there really is no alternative but to travel to another destination in order to secure new business or deliver business services. However, with some thought and pre-planning the travel can be more sustainable. Let’s take a look at some of the ways to do that.

Choose Sustainable Modes of Transportation

This is fairly obvious and the first thing everyone thinks about when considering ways to make business travel more sustainable.

Choosing trains over flights for short- to medium-distance travel, for instance, will result in significantly lower carbon emissions. Rail travel is a viable alternative across much of Europe and from the South-East of England to France and beyond. Trains have lower emissions compared to cars and aeroplanes, especially when the rail system is powered by renewable energy. For example, taking a train from London to Paris emits around 90% less CO₂ than flying the same distance. In regions with electric rail networks, train journeys are even more eco-friendly. In the UK, high-speed trains and regional rail systems powered by renewable energy contribute significantly to reducing transport-related emissions.

Clearly, though, it isn’t always practical or even possible to take a train from and to certain destinations. If flights are necessary, prioritise direct routes and book economy class tickets to reduce the carbon emissions per passenger. Direct flights have a lower carbon footprint because takeoffs and landings are the most energy-intensive parts of a flight. Some airlines are using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to reduce the carbon emissions of their flights. While SAF is still not widely available, its use is growing in the industry.

Where journeys can be made by car, businesses can encourage car-sharing or the use of electric vehicles (EVs). Electric cars are a sustainable alternative to traditional petrol or diesel vehicles. EVs produce no direct emissions and often come with financial incentives, such as tax breaks or lower operating costs, making them an attractive option for businesses.

By incorporating these sustainable travel options, businesses can contribute to environmental conservation, reduce costs, and align with global efforts to combat climate change.

Use Sustainable Accommodation

By choosing eco-friendly hotels or serviced accommodation a business can demonstrate environmental commitment. Eco-friendly corporate travel is all about prioritising hotels, aparthotels and serviced accommodation that has energy-efficient practices, waste reduction programs, and local sourcing of materials and food. This type of accommodation implements practices that minimise environmental impact and contribute positively to the surrounding community.

Here are the key aspects of sustainable accommodation:

Energy Efficiency

Using renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power is a clear way to demonstrate sustainable credentials. This ensures a focus on energy-efficient heating, lighting and cooling. But even for accommodation where solar or wind-powered energy are not yet possible hotels and other accommodation can use energy-efficient lighting combined with motion sensors, and smart thermostats to reduce energy consumption when rooms and common areas are not in use.

Waste Reduction

Sustainable accommodation willfocus on comprehensive recycling programs, which might include segregating waste and encouraging guests to participate in reducing waste. Some properties also have a “zero-waste” initiative in place that aims to minimise the amount of waste destined for landfill and promotes composting of food waste.

Sustainable Sourcing

Sustainable accommodations frequently use eco-friendly cleaning products and personal care amenities like biodegradable soap and shampoo. In hotels or aparthotels that service food then the aim is to serve locally sourced, organic meals to support the local economy and reduce the carbon footprint associated with food transportation. Hotel chains such as Accor Hotels and Marriott havesustainability programs including reducing their carbon footprint, eliminating single-use plastics and implementing energy-saving initiatives.

Offset Carbon Emissions

It is important for businesses that are genuinely committed to reducing their environmental impact to participate in carbon offset programs. Thes programs are intended to neutralise the environmental impact of unavoidable travel. Many airlines and third-party organisations provide these services.

Carbon offset programs are initiatives designed to compensate for the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by activities like transportation, manufacturing or energy use. These programs allow businesses to “offset” their carbon footprint by investing in projects that reduce or remove an equivalent amount of CO₂ from the atmosphere.

They work by first measuring the amount of CO₂ emitted from specific activities such as a flight and then offsetting that by purchasing an equivalent amount of carbon offset. The money used to purchase the carbon offset goes toward environmental projects aimed at reducing or capturing emissions. Carbon offset providers include Gold Standard, Verra and Cool Effect.

These projects are all verified to ensure the reductions are genuine but ensuring the effectiveness of these projects can be challenging and some might not deliver the promised reductions. The preference, therefore, is to focus on direct actions to reduce emissions.

Types of Carbon Offset Projects

1. Renewable Energy that replaces fossil fuel energy with clean alternatives like wind, solar or hydroelectric power.
2. Reforestation and Forest Preservation activities that either plant new trees or protecting existing forests to absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere.
3. Energy Efficiency initiatives that upgrade infrastructure so that it uses less energy, for example energy-efficient lighting.
4. Methane Capture that converts the methane from landfills or agriculture into usable energy.
5. Carbon Sequestration stores CO₂ captured from the atmosphere in geological formations or in soil.

Leverage Technology

As already mentioned, it can be challenging to demonstrate the effectiveness of carbon offset projects so direct action to reduce the need for travel is preferred. This can be done by leveraging technology and increasing the use of virtual meetings via tools such as Teams and Zoom, running live webinars to reach your target market, and using collaborative digital tools such as Slack, Trello and Asana to manage tasks for remote teams. These can all minimise the need for frequent travel.

Adopt Sustainable Practices During Travel

The most obvious way that people can individually adopt sustainable practices when travelling is to use reusable water bottles, utensils and bags to reduce waste from single-use plastics. You can also support local businesses and sustainable suppliers at your destination to reduce the carbon footprint of goods and services. And be aware of your energy use by turning off lights and electronics when leaving your hotel room or serviced apartment, and reuse towels rather than expecting them to be washed every day.

Develop Company Travel Policies

Businesses can implement guidelines to encourage sustainable corporate travel choices, such as mandatory carbon offsets or restrictions on short-haul flights when alternatives exist. They can also monitor and report the environmental impact of corporate travel to encourage accountability and continuous improvement.

Educating employees on the importance of sustainability and providing incentives for eco-friendly travel practices will support these policies. Maybe even consider sharing success stories and data to highlight the impact of your sustainable choices.