Sustainability in Business Travel: How Travel Management Companies Can Help Reduce Your Carbon Footprint?

Sustainability has become a routine corporate strategy. Enterprises from various sectors enhance brand value, control costs, and impress customers by focusing on sustainability. They update policies and revamp processes to generate revenue without damaging the environment and planet.

Business travel management is one of the processes that make it difficult for companies and startups to become sustainable by increasing greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints. Organizations have been making business travel sustainable by enabling and encouraging employees to book eco-friendly travel products.

At the same time, employees promote sustainability in business travel by opting for eco-friendly airlines and energy-efficient accommodations. While outsourcing business travel management, organizations these days look for a travel management company that helps them reduce carbon footprints.

Leading travel management companies (TMCs) already impress corporate clients by making business travel sustainable. They have been helping customers reduce carbon footprints by providing options and tech solutions. Here are some strategies travel management companies use to help customers reduce carbon footprints.

9 Ways a Travel Management Company Helps Customers Reduce Carbon Footprints

1. Helping Business Travel Policy Updates

A TMC these days manages business travel programs of enterprises from various sectors. It helps customers implement sustainable business travel policies by sharing best practices and expert advice. The insights shared by the TMC make it easier for organizations to reduce carbon footprints by updating existing business travel policies.

At the same time, TMC helps customers ensure sustainable business travel policy compliance by showing only eco-friendly travel products. Leading TMCs further reduce carbon footprints by blacklisting vendors and suppliers that do not provide sustainable business travel products.

2. Expanding Travel Inventories

TMCs help work travelers reduce carbon footprints by expanding domestic and international travel inventories. They have been adding sustainable travel products to the travel inventory through partnerships and networking.

The expanded travel inventories create opportunities for employees to choose from conventional and sustainable travel products. Hence, they can reduce carbon footprints effortlessly by prioritizing eco-friendly airlines and energy-efficient accommodations.

3. Reducing Airtime

Often long-haul air travel makes work travelers experience stress and anxiety. Likewise, connecting flights increases carbon emissions during each takeoff and landing. TMCs keep business travelers stress-free and reduce carbon footprints simultaneously by reducing airtime.

They include both connecting and direct flights in travel inventories. Also, they recommend employees book direct flights instead of connecting flights. The recommendation and options enable employees to book direct flights that use less carbon dioxide than connecting flights.

4. Recommending Economy Class Flights

A flight uses more carbon dioxide when it has more business class seats than economy class seats. Normally, low-cost carrier flights have more economy class seats than business class flights. While booking business trips, TMCs reduce carbon emissions per traveler by opting for low-cost carriers.

Also, they recommend employees reduce carbon footprints by traveling economy class instead of business class. However, they still allow employees to choose from business class and economy class seats according to organizational travel policies.

5. Booking Green Hotels

Unlike conventional hotels, green hotels or eco hotels focus extensively on sustainability. They prevent environmental degradation by redesigning structures, reducing energy consumption, using renewable energy, and minimizing water wastage.

While expanding travel inventories, TMCs ensure that employees have the option to choose from conventional and green hotels. Also, they reduce carbon footprints by recommending only eco-hotels to business travelers.

6. Encouraging Shared Transportation

Organizational travel policies allow employees to book cabs during business trips. But an employee increases her carbon footprint each time she opts for a car rental. Employees can reduce carbon footprints easily by opting for carpooling or shared transportation instead of car rentals.

TMCs make it easier for work travelers to share private cars by recommending apps and online tools. Employees can use the recommended software to book a carpool ride in minutes. Some TMCs even allow employees to choose from multiple carpooling and ride-sharing apps.

7. Eliminating Paperwork

Like the aviation and hospitality sectors, the pulp and paper industry is responsible for increasing carbon footprints. Organizations have been becoming sustainable by replacing paper-based documents with digital documents. TMCs help customers reduce carbon footprints by going paperless in several ways.

Leading TMCs have launched software that enables employees to submit digital receipts, invoices, and expense reports after business trips. Also, they encourage employees to go paperless during business trips using digital tickets and mobile boarding passes.

8. Sharing Travel Carbon Footprint Reports

No enterprise can reduce carbon footprints without measuring and tracking the carbon footprint created by employees. The tracking is essential to reduce carbon footprints by making relevant policy changes and taking required initiatives. Enterprises must calculate carbon footprint per employee or trip based on real-time data.

TMCs make it easier for customers to track carbon footprints increased due to business trips by sharing reports. Some TMCs share travel carbon footprint reports with customers regularly that help them increase the ROI of business travel without increasing carbon footprints.

9. Planning Carbon Offset Programs

Many organizations these days offset the carbon footprint created by business travelers by investing in carbon reduction processes. They run carbon footprint programs that neutralize carbon emissions by financing projects run by various non-profit organizations.

An organization can run such programs successfully only by measuring and monetizing carbon emissions caused by business trips accurately. TMCs help customers determine the amount to be invested in carbon offset programs. Some TMCs further recommend the appropriate carbon offsetting programs to customers.

Final Words

Sustainability is one of the trends that will continue to transform business travel. Enterprises have been taking new initiatives regularly to make employees engage in business travel management without increasing carbon footprints. Likewise, employees are reducing carbon footprints by making eco-friendly travel choices.

Travel management companies meet the changing needs and expectations of customers by focusing extensively on business travel sustainability. They enable and encourage employees to reduce carbon footprints by booking sustainable travel products.

At the same time, they help employees to promote sustainability in business travel by updating and enforcing organizational policies. Travel management companies will continue to use new strategies to acquire and retain customers by helping them invest in business travel without increasing carbon footprints.