The significance of business travel cannot be overstated. Corporate travel serves a variety of purposes, from increasing customer and partner relationships to improving employee skills and field experience.
Despite its significance, it is becoming increasingly unsustainable as climate change progresses. Establishing ecologically friendly strategies to remove waste and reduce carbon emissions is now more critical than ever. So, what can businesses do on their own to solve the issue of climate change? Here’s a quick explanation of why creating a sustainable business travel strategy is so vital, as well as a few “green” travel options your company should explore.
To begin, companies must acknowledge and prioritize their environmental impacts. Sustainable practices are advantageous not just for the protection and preservation of natural resources, but also for business, because sustainability sells. Consumers and potential employees are drawn to companies that have implemented green initiatives to lessen their own and their employees’ environmental effect while traveling.
A smart place to start is by altering company travel policies. Choosing carbon-neutral transportation choices like zero-emission electric cars, vans, and buses, as well as campaigning for more deliberate business travel, can help get things moving.
Provide additional best-practices training to ensure that employees are on board with the company’s sustainability goals. Eating locally, being more waste conscious, and switching to reusable plastics are examples of these practices. While using hotel amenities is handy, single-use plastics like these are bad for the environment. Encourage employees to use reusable water bottles, containers, and utensils by using branded merchandise, giveaways, and teaching resources.
More organizations, especially while flying, are making an effort to employ ecologically responsible business travel practices. Why? Because aviation accounts for 12% of all CO2 emissions globally. One strategy is to encourage employees to use other modes of transportation; however, companies can also work with airlines that are dedicated to reducing CO2 emissions from flights by using sustainable aviation fuels. According to studies, these fuels can reduce the carbon footprint of aviation gasoline by up to 80%.
To make air travel more sustainable, choose direct flights, use planes that are built to be more fuel-efficient, and pack as light as feasible. According to studies, reducing the weight of flying luggage by 15 pounds on long-haul flights can reduce carbon emissions by 80 pounds. This modest cut is equivalent to planting two trees. Another easy step is to stop printing boarding cards, itineraries, and other travel documents. Digital documents and useful apps are all that is required for most domestic journeys nowadays.
As business operations and travel return to normal, take the time to re-evaluate and improve your corporate travel policy. From huge organizations to individuals, we can all improve our travel habits to lower our carbon footprints. For further information and eco-friendly travel recommendations, please see the following graphic.