On a typical return flight from London to Hong Kong, an aircraft emits 2.76 tonnes of carbon-dioxide for each passenger, equivalent to the amount of gas that fills a hot-air balloon. That is why businesses are waking up to the fact that their travellers are major contributors to greenhouse gases and consequent global warming.
Earlier this month, Friends of the Earth warned that the predicted growth in aviation (projected at six per cent annually worldwide over the next few years) threatens to wipe out single-handedly all the carbon emission savings the UK government plans to make elsewhere.
“Business travel is one of the most rapidly growing contributors to carbon emissions,” says Francis Sullivan, environment adviser to the board of the bank HSBC.
The problem is beginning to catch the attention of the investment community as well. “Business travel is one of the issues we take into account when we assess companies for how they are reducing carbon emissions,” confirms Matt Crossman, assistant ethical researcher for Rathbones, a stockbroking firm that specialises in ethical investments.
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Whether for altruistic or reputational reasons, a small but increasing number of companies, such as HSBC, are attempting to make good the damage their travel causes to the environment. The bank calculates that in 2004 its business flights were responsible for 96,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. HSBC is responding by contributing up to $10 ($5.55) per tonne to carbon-offsetting schemes, mainly through subsidies to clients that invest in carbon-reducing practices, such as using alternative power sources.
HSBC is also looking to reduce the amount of trips its executives make but admits that, as a growing global business, this is difficult. “All companies are struggling with this,” says Sullivan. “You can’t tell your people they must not fly.”
However, executives may find their travel is curbed as the pressure increases on them to act with environmental responsibility. PricewaterhouseCoopers has started work on this in the UK through encouraging greater use of virtual conferencing. It has invested £150,000 in improved video-conferencing facilities. Like HSBC, PwC is also changing its travel policy to make rail travel the standard mode of transport wherever feasible.
“We are looking to minimise the environmental impact of our travel in any way we can,” says Mark Avery, head of business services for PwC. “It is too early to measure but we have had a positive reaction. We accept travel is an essential part of our business but we felt it was important to put alternative tools in people’s hands so they can at least make the choice.”
Both PwC and HSBC are also assessing their travel suppliers on the grounds of their attempts to be more environmently-friendly, such as the way hotels control waste management. PwC will use the assessment to give a ranking to suppliers.
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“If we find they are doing nothing, we will consider taking them out of the programme,” says Avery. Travellers will be encouraged to book properties with the highest rankings. There are numerous other examples of business adopting a green consciousness about their business travel.
Friends Provident has committed itself to reducing car use and is also encouraging video-conferencing. Body Shop has been publishing its CO2 emissions for at least a decade and its travel policy states employees must use public transport whenever possible.
British Airways also reports increased interest from its corporate customers, especially government departments and the oil and gas sector. “We are in advanced discussions over companies putting some of the corporate rebates we give them towards schemes that offset emissions,” confirms Richard Tams, head of corporate sales for the airline.
Yet in spite of all these good works, the question remains whether business travel can ever truly be environmentally friendly. “There is much more awareness. The difficulty is that environmental programmes don’t run companies,” says Marc Hildebrand, president of the travel management company TQ3 Travel Solutions. “We don’t yet see clients telling people not to travel or that next month they can only meet through video-conferencing.”
Perhaps business people need to take responsibility for their own actions instead of relying on their employers. WebEx, the web conferencing company, claims the average business manager holds 559 face-to-face meetings each year, of which 50 per cent are unnecessary or even counter-productive. If more executives travelled only when they saw no realistic alternative, the number of air trips they make each year would fall rapidly.
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When car or air travel is unavoidable, business travellers can appease their consciences nominally offsetting their CO2 emissions. The website www.co2.org, run by the organisation Climate Care, lets travellers calculate how much carbon is emitted by their rail or air journey and shows how much should be invested in one of Climate Care’s projects for reducing greenhouse gases to offset it. By way of example, a plane flying from London to New York emits 1.56 tonnes of CO2 per passenger and Climate Care asks for £10.11 to offset it.
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