FOUR out of five businesses do not currently address reducing greenhouse gas emissions as part of their travel policies, according to a new report released this week by American Express Global Business Travel.
The Green Travel Whitepaper: Approach to Integrating Sustainability in Business Travel is based on a survey of travel managers and procurement professionals across a range of industries.
Almost half of the companies polled have a formal environmental sustainability policy that covers indirect emissions, but only 42% factored environmental sustainability into their air sourcing processes, while fewer still considered these factors in relation to ground transport and hotel procurement.
79% of businesses surveyed do not require their preferred airlines to have environmental certification, the report found.
“There is definitely high social awareness among both employees and business leaders, however green travel programs are still a rarity,” said Amex GBT Head of Global Business Consulting for Asia-Pacific, Harris Manlutac.
He said the first step in implementing such a program was to measure emissions, which would allow businesses to establish a thorough understanding of their travellers’ environmental footprint and implement practical plans.
Just 42% of respondents currently measure carbon emissions from air travel, largely because sustainability initiatives focus on direct emissions from core business activities.
“This lack of focus on indirect emissions is a key barrier to sustainability in air travel,” Manlutac said, urging companies to audit their travel program as the first step in understanding its environmental impact.
He said the key barriers to “green travel” included a lack of know-how, the cost of going green, and competing priorities in booking travel.
The full white paper is available at amexglobalbusinesstravel.com.
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Source: traveldaily