The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a significant question on the role of business travel.
Business travel has been an essential part of any corporate business model. It is very valuable, supporting business sales and growth. However, it also has a significant environmental cost. What’s more, the pandemic has shown that growth is possible without it.
With little travel taking place in current times, many organisations have stopped to review their policies in relation to wider environmental goals and global pressure. There is an opportunity for well-informed travel policy changes that could dramatically reduce any organisation’s carbon footprint.
So then comes the question: Just how much carbon is business travel responsible for? And what can you do differently to reduce your impact? In this insight, we’d like to answer these questions by sharing some of our market-leading calculations.
Traveller profile
Let’s meet a business traveller, Jane. Jane is a Sales Executive. She is a frequent flier, clocking in 14 trips a year, and accounts for a significant amount of sales deals won. In the industry, we might call her a ‘Road Warrior’. Her manager considers her and her travel indispensable to the growth of the business. Let’s have a look at the details:
Jane makes 2 transatlantic flights a year, each one 2 days in duration. For both trips, she flies business class from London Heathrow to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York. Each excursion involves:
- Return flights to JFK airport
- A taxi from and to the airport in New York
- 2 nights in a hotel
- A collection of taxi trips to get to and from her meetings.
She also makes 1 regular monthly trip to Europe. She flies business class from London to Berlin for a 1-night stay. Each one of these involves:
- Return flights to Berlin Brandenburg airport
- A taxi from and to the airport
- 1 night in a hotel
- A collection of taxi trips to get to and from her meeting