Only 30% of travel buyers surveyed are willing to pay more for travel to include carbon offsets or purchase sustainable aviation fuel. Photo Credit: Adobe stock/gopixa
The higher cost associated with greener travel options remains a
barrier to the broader adoption of sustainable travel practices,
according to a recent BCD report.
The TMC recently surveyed 112 global travel buyers and close to 1,800
business travellers to gauge the importance of environmental
sustainability in business travel. More than half of travel buyers (53%)
stated the elevated cost of sustainable travel options is the biggest
pain point when seeking to implement a sustainable programme.
Additional challenges include traveller education (47%), a lack of
standard measurement approaches and definitions (45%), and having the
right tools, such as online booking tools that support carbon budgets
(44%).
The report found that while 82% of companies have sustainability
goals in place, only 45% have targets for sustainable business travel.
Meanwhile, only 20% of business travellers are aware of their company’s
sustainable travel goals.
Top sustainability goals
· Supporting general company sustainability goals
· Tracking and reporting travel sustainability
· Reducing the environmental impact of business travel.
Over two-thirds rate these priorities as “extremely important” or “very important”.
Lower priorities
However, offsetting carbon emissions and satisfying traveller interests are the least important.
Only a third of travel buyers require suppliers to have
sustainability goals and commitments in place, while a quarter look for
suppliers with similar sustainability values and environmental
certifications such as EcoVadis.
Even fewer travel buyers mandate the availability of a carbon
emissions calculator (15%), science-based targets (17%) and other
sustainability metrics (19%) since around half of buyers surveyed view
sustainability criteria as “nice-to-have.”
Common practices
While half of companies encourage sustainable travel, only a third
promote sustainable options at the point of booking. Reducing travel
volumes and travelling by train instead of plane are the top two options
promoted by travel buyers. Additional initiatives include encouraging
direct flights, combining several trips in one and limiting the number
of employees on the same trip.
Travellers also mentioned sharing ground transportation and choosing
economy class over business class as frequent recommendations by their
companies.
While over half of travellers are willing to take fewer but longer
business trips, or try new, more sustainable ways of travelling, only
30% are willing to pay more for travel to include carbon offsets or
purchasing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Sustainable practices
The most popular sustainable practices embraced on the road are
related to hotel stays, where 70 per cent of travellers report avoiding
frequent towel change and 60 per cent refrain from using daily
housekeeping.
Recycling, going paperless with travel documents, supporting local
vendors or walking where possible are similarly popular. 46% of
travellers also mentioned travelling with only hand luggage, while 43%
brought their own reusable water bottle.
Regional differences
The surveys also revealed regional differences in sustainable
practices for both travellers and travel buyers. Companies in EMEA focus
on reducing travel volumes and travelling by train instead of plane,
while flying economy class instead of business and sharing ground
transportation are more common in North American companies. Employers in
APAC often promote direct flights and eco-friendly hotels.
Source: BTN Europe