How to cut your business travel carbon footprint with travel counsellors.

Many businesses are now looking for ways to reduce the carbon emissions of their travel programme to tie into wider business efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. A 2022 GBTA study found that 88% of the industry sector ranks reducing business travel emissions as the top priority for the next two to three years. At Travel Counsellors, we can help you make smarter travel plans to steer you towards your wider ESG targets, finding the balance between carbon savings, comfort and cost along the way. An important first step is to establish what causes your biggest carbon footprint. I can help you with this through the Travel Counsellors for Business complimentary carbon reporting service. The next step is to establish your emissions reductions goal and the timeframe that you want to achieve this within. Do not forget to factor in business growth plan into this goal setting, as strong growth plans could require additional business travel. This process will effectively give you a carbon budget for each year that you’ll need to sit within in order to achieve your goal. Next, take a deep dive into your travel patterns; are there routes where you could switch to direct flights which are less impactful? Who is flying in the premium cabins, do they need to? Could you switch short haul routes to rail instead? I can help advise you or any travellers on what is and is not possible on your key travel routes. When choosing suppliers look beyond carbon. For example when choosing a hotel supplier look at their F&B and how they handle food waste, cleaning, in-room amenities, bike and scooter rentals and water bottle refill in common areas. At Travel Counsellors our internal systems identify Green Leaf hotels who have been recognised as having and approved carbon reduction policy in place with the GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council). While this won’t translate to a reduction in your reported carbon emissions, it is a great way to display your intentions by supporting businesses within the travel industry that are taking carbon emissions reduction seriously, and are looking at sustainability more holistically. You can also apply a similar approach to airlines, are they investing in SAF? What are the inflight amenities, how are they packaged? You can consider other factors such as community initiatives, how they tackle poverty and their treatment of employees. Find sustainability champions from within your own business. These people can be found at all levels, as long as they are passionate about sustainability they can be used to influence and change behaviours. Internal promotion of the new policy is key to ensuring a successful implementation. The more uptake you can get of the policy, the quicker you’ll start to see results. Make sure conversations around sustainability are being had with the right audience. Any changes in travel policy large or small that effects your overall businesses carbon footprint need to be discussed with both the booker and traveller. One of the biggest issues organisations face is closing the gap between intention and action. Encourage competitiveness within teams and divisions around sustainability goals. Challenge internal teams to achieve ‘biggest reduction in carbon footprint team of the year.’ Push healthy competitions between teams to hit ESG targets. Make sure that the data you share with the wider business is useful, don’t get bogged down with the details. In order for policy changes to be effective and remain effective your audience needs to be engaged with topic. Create a narrative around the changes happening and how it will benefit them. To find out how I can help you and your business achieve your sustainability goals call me on 0207 1250 296 or email harry.white@travelcounsellors.com