Beyond Offsetting: Embracing Sustainability in Corporate Travel

As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, sustainable travel has developed into a pressing issue that companies are eager to address. Adopting sustainable travel practices and integrating them into their Corporate Social Responsibility strategy has taken priority for many organisations who are aiming to travel greener. However, this has proven to be a challenge for many. With frequent travel being a necessity within a myriad of industries, it can be difficult to know how to go about reducing the environmental impact of your trips while still considering the best interests of all stakeholders, from your clients and employees to the wider community. This blog will take you through some of the challenges faced by companies when it comes to sustainable travel, and how Club Travel Corporate can help you to not only address these challenges but solve them too.

What is Sustainable Corporate Travel?

Sustainable corporate travel involves lessening the environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with business travel while preserving its intended purpose and effectiveness. ESG goals are continuously growing, which has meant that corporate travel policies have also had to rapidly evolve in order to keep up. At its core, sustainable corporate travel involves reducing carbon footprints, conserving resources, and promoting local economies. Potential aspects of an effective sustainable travel strategy could include:

• Partnering with Sustainable Providers & Working with Experts in the Area: Work with a corporate travel agency, like Club Travel Corporate, who will implement eco-friendly practices, such as carbon offset programmes and energy-efficient facilities to reduce your carbon footprint. Get in touch to find out how we could help your business to identify and incorporate a sustainable travel strategy that will work for you and your employees today.
• Understanding Your CO2 Impact: Measure the greenhouse gas emissions generated by your travel activities, providing a clear picture of your environmental footprint and opportunities for reduction.
• Prioritising Low-Carbon Transportation: Utilise sustainable transportation options by selecting trains, electric or hybrid vehicles, and direct flights over more emissions-intensive alternatives.
• Educating Employees: Create awareness around sustainable practices that your employees can undertake before and during their trip, from choosing eco-friendly accommodations to reducing single-use plastics.

 

The Challenges Associated with Sustainable Corporate Travel

While sustainable business travel offers a litany of benefits, its actual integration also comes with a somewhat daunting collection of challenges. Detailed strategies, collaboration, careful planning and a sizeable time commitment may need to be invested into such a project, which is not always available to the companies concerned. Some of the most common challenges businesses encounter when trying to manage their environmental impact include:

• Measuring and Managing Emissions: Advanced data systems and common reporting standards, which could be a challenge for companies to implement due to various limitations such as training or budgetary constraints, are required for measuring and evaluating the carbon footprint associated with business travel.
• Employee Encouragement: To successfully promote sustainable travel practices, such as choosing eco-friendly options or consolidating multiple meetings into fewer trips, organisations need to have strong communication, training, and incentive programmes in place. However, they may not have the internal expertise needed to articulate the impact of carbon emissions and the measures required to reduce them.
• Balancing Business Needs and Convenience with Sustainability: As previously mentioned, travel is a highly important facet of many areas of business for organisations worldwide. Companies can struggle to ensure the sustainability initiatives being implemented do not compromise the effectiveness of their travel-related activities or inconvenience their employees.

How Can Club Travel Corporate Aid Your Company’s CSR Strategy?

Here at Club Travel Corporate, our staff are our greatest asset. We have provided them with extensive training on CSR and environmental policies, while also encouraging them to engage with said policies within our own workplace by incentivising responsible practices. As a result, our staff are fully equipped to help your organisation reach their sustainable travel goals. Some of the ways we can help include:

• CO2 and Emissions Reporting: We provide CO2 and emissions reports for all travel, making it easy to understand your travel-related carbon emissions. We can then offer recommendations on how to travel more responsibly and provide you with the tools to do so.
• Carbon Offsetting: Club Travel Corporate have partnered with NGOs worldwide to assist our clients in offsetting the carbon generated by travel. When you book travel through us, we can offset the impact of your trip with carbon credits provided by those NGOs, making your travel more sustainable.
• Assistance with Your CSR Strategy: Our highly trained team of sustainable travel experts can advise your organisation on how to effectively manage and reduce your carbon emissions without compromising your employee’s convenience, comfort or the business's needs.

Final Thoughts

Sustainable corporate travel is a journey, not a destination, and overcoming its challenges requires strategic planning and the right partnerships. As Ireland’s largest privately owned Travel Management Company with decades of experience to our name, we can provide our clients with an exemplary level of service while implementing sustainable travel into your CSR strategy seamlessly. We will work closely with you and your team to develop a sustainable corporate travel programme which has been expertly curated to your needs, while providing you with complete control over costs and compliance.

Ready to take the next step? Contact Club Travel Corporate today to request a demo on how we can help with your sustainable travel strategy.