sustainability and your company culture

How to build a sustainable business travel policy

 

Business travel is buzzing, and it's brought a couple of new travel companions along for the ride: your travellers' eco-conscious values and your company's own sustainability goals. Now's the perfect chance to weave these green intentions right into your travel policy. This way, you can get maximum value from every trip, keeping your people, planet, and profits happy.

Building a greener travel programme starts with your company culture. To bring that culture to life, you need a solid travel policy and the right tools to back it up. Let's look at how to get it done.

TL;DR

  • Align your travel policy with both eco-conscious values and sustainability goals to maximise value and satisfaction across people, planet, and profits.
  • Establish a greener travel programme by fostering a company culture that prioritises sustainability and responsible travel practices.
  • Develop a robust travel policy that integrates green initiatives to support environmental goals and align with employee values.
  • Leverage the right tools and strategies to bring your sustainable travel programme to life effectively and efficiently.

Contents

Map out the entire journey

Sustainability options require careful thought at all stages of the trip. The decisions you make early on ripple throughout the entire experience.

Think about the planning process. What travel partners are your people encouraged to book? You might want to evaluate direct flights versus connecting flights.

During the booking phase, your platform should call out the best travel options that align with your sustainability goals.

On the trip itself, your travellers need to understand their impact. They should know exactly what they should and shouldn’t do. Perhaps taking a train is encouraged instead of grabbing a taxi.

Beyond the trip, you need solid reporting and analysis set up to measure your success. This data helps you continuously improve the policy over time. There are many factors at play throughout just one journey.

Equip your team with the right tools

Once you determine the policy components you want to encourage, you need access to the proper tools. These features empower your travellers throughout the entire journey. You should look for a travel management company and platforms that offer:

  • Clear policy guidelines
  • Green options built directly into the booking flow
  • Sustainability reporting capabilities
  • Seamless approval processes
  • Instant notifications through a mobile app
  • Detailed reporting and analysis
  • Carbon offsetting partnerships

Corporate Traveller works closely with partners across the globe to provide clients with various options to meet their environmental goals. This includes proactively sourcing socially conscious industry suppliers, the ability to report on your carbon footprint, and carbon offsetting partners.  

Six ways to unleash your colleagues' inner eco-warrior

You can preserve the planet while still keeping your work commitments and meeting up with clients worldwide. Here are six simple ways to travel greener.

  • 1. Skip the layovers

    Limit your take-offs and reduce your journey time by choosing to fly direct. It is a massive win for everyone. You save the world and say goodbye to long layovers and time lost in airport lounges. Aircraft use the most fuel and emit the most harmful emissions during take-off. You simply cannot argue with science.

  • 2. Fly economy class

    You win some, you lose some. Flying at the front of the plane adds heavily to your carbon emissions. According to the World Bank, business class seats take up more space. The emissions generated while flying in business class are as much as three times higher than when you travel in the back. The total emissions from the plane remain the same, but your personal footprint is much higher.

  • 3. Choose your airline with care

    Not all airlines are created equal. Do your homework. Find out how fuel-efficient your chosen airline really is. See if they invest in alternative biofuels. Look at their track record and commitment to cutting carbon emissions. Your travel management company (TMC) can provide information and offer excellent advice here.

  • 4. Support carbon offset programmes

    Air travel contributes significantly to carbon emissions. To balance out your impact, look at offsetting your emissions each trip by supporting the airline’s carbon offset programme for a small fee. Most airlines today offer one, including renewable energy projects and forest planting. Chat to your travel advisor before you fly and make sure a tree is planted on your behalf.

  • 5. Stay with purpose

    Sustainable hotels go beyond recycled toilet paper and energy-saving light bulbs. Think water conservation, energy savings, recycling, and waste management. Sustainable hotels come in many shapes and sizes. Small independent properties sit comfortably alongside international groups such as Hilton, Marriott International, Hyatt, and Accor Hotels.

    Consider these green projects currently on the go:

    • The installation of beehives on hotel rooftops by Fairmont.
    • The launch of the ‘10 Million Trees Initiative’ by Four Seasons to plant trees across 34 countries.
    • Recycling unused soap and amenity bottles to donate to homeless shelters and medical facilities by Hilton.
    • Supplying all staff with uniforms made from recycled plastic bottles by Marriott.

  • 6. Take care of the small things

    There are only a handful of major ways to be more environmentally conscious when travelling for business. As the old saying goes, if you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves.

    Make these small changes to soften your environmental footprint:

    • Pack light. The overall impact of passenger and baggage weight on a flight's carbon emissions seems small, but you cannot underestimate the cumulative effect of every trip.
    • Go digital. Use a mobile app to access your boarding pass. 
    • Carry a reusable water bottle to stay hydrated.
    • Reuse your towels and help your hotel save energy and water.

Your next steps for greener corporate travel

The earth is billions of years old. It serves as an incredibly powerful metaphor for the cyclical, resilient nature of our environment. Any sustainability initiative works in a similar way. There is no finish line. Building a strong policy requires ongoing effort and continuously adapting to new information.

Navigating this topic requires looking at your company culture, industry, geographical locations, and the specific nature of your work. Every single business is entirely unique. Corporate Traveller helps businesses navigate this complex subject and find solutions that work for the planet and for your people.

Are you working on environmental targets? Let's talk and get your travel programme aligned with your goals.

Let's chat sustainability.

 

Find out how our tools and team can help you impact your business goals.

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