There’s no doubting the importance of business travel. The motivations for corporate travel are numerous, ranging from strengthening customer and partner connections to improving employee skills and field experience.
Despite its importance, it is quickly becoming unsustainable as climate change advances. It is now more important than ever to establish environmentally friendly measures to eliminate waste and minimize carbon emissions. So, how can businesses address the issue of climate change on their own? Here’s a quick rundown of why it’s so important to create sustainable business travel policy, as well as a few “green” travel options your organization might consider.
To begin, businesses must recognize and prioritize their environmental consequences. Sustainable practices are beneficial not just to the protection and preservation of natural resources, but they are also beneficial to business, as sustainability sells. Consumers and potential employees are drawn to organizations that have implemented green efforts to reduce their own impact as well as the impact of their employees while traveling.
Modifying business travel policy is a good place to start. Choosing carbon-neutral transportation options such as zero-emission electric cars, vans, and buses, as well as lobbying for more intentional business travel, can help get things started.
Ensure that staff are on board with the company’s sustainability aims by providing additional best-practices training. These habits could include eating locally, being more waste mindful, and converting to reusable plastics. It’s convenient to use hotel amenities, but single-use plastics like these are bad for the environment. Using branded items, giveaways, and educational tools, encourage staff to use reusable water bottles, containers, and utensils.
More companies are making a conscious effort to use environmentally friendly business travel practices, especially when flying. Why? Because air travel accounts for 12% of all CO2 emissions worldwide. One strategy is to encourage employees to use alternate modes of transportation; however, firms can also opt to cooperate with airlines who are committed to lowering CO2 emissions from aircraft by using sustainable aviation fuels. According to reports, these fuels can cut aviation fuel’s carbon footprint by up to 80%.
Choosing direct flights, picking planes that are built to be more fuel-efficient, and packing as light as possible are all strategies to make air travel more sustainable. According to studies, reducing the weight of a travel luggage by 15 pounds can reduce carbon emissions by 80 pounds on long-haul flights. This small reduction equates to the planting of two trees. Another simple step is to eliminate the need for printed boarding cards, itineraries, and other travel papers. On most domestic journeys nowadays, digital documentation and handy apps are all that is required.
Take the time to re-evaluate and make your corporate travel policy more sustainable as business operations and travel return to normal. We can all improve our travel habits to reduce our carbon footprints, from major corporations to individuals. Please read the linked graphic for further information and eco-friendly travel tips.
