Travel managers have demanding jobs. They have
to optimize their supplier mix for their unique travel patterns; negotiate the
best discounts; implement controls and influence travelers to drive spend to
preferred suppliers; write, review and implement policy; track program
compliance and forecast spend. Oh! Almost forgot, they also have to make sure
their travelers are happy on their trips.
Now, senior executives also demand reductions
in carbon footprint. Do they want to do their part to save the Earth or have they
simply landed on a socially commendable excuse to reduce travel?
Companies have always had an eye on reducing
travel spending. If a traveler forgoes a nonessential business trip, that helps
the bottom line. Reducing travel can come with reduced carbon emissions, but most
companies have not seriously emphasized this...until now.
Climate alarmism is rampant at the moment. A lot
of people feel morally obligated to do their part to reduce their carbon
footprint and receive praise when they take action. Companies will use this to incentivize
travelers to curtail their spending and steer their trip choices.
In 2020, companies will deny more nonessential
trips, reduce their internal meetings and encourage more video conferences and
virtual meetings. This all saves on travel.
An Inconvenient Truth
Over 36 billion tonnes of CO2 are emitted per year and that number is rising. In
its current trajectory, the global temperature will rise by between 3.1 and 3.7
degrees Celsius by 2100, far off from the global target of 2 degrees Celsius. Any
truly green travel program will require expensive, impractical energy
alternatives. Replacing air suppliers, for example, with rail, boat and
electric cars would be too cost and time expensive, not to mention impossible to
enforce.
At most, travel managers in the West will have
a negligible impact on climate change. Annual carbon emissions from the U.S., UK, France and Germany—which happen to be the biggest Western
business travel markets—have been dropping. What's driving the rise in carbon
emissions is China—which
also happens to be the biggest business travel market in the world—and the rest
of the developing world. There’s no way to reach the 2 degrees Celsius target without
them significantly curtailing their emissions, and they'd have to drive that
effort way beyond business travel. For developing nations, lifting as many
people out of extreme poverty as they can with economic growth is a top
priority, and they will keep using energy sources like fossil fuels to support
that effort until cheaper solutions come along.
Whatever efforts travel managers make now won't impact
climate change for a century, if ever. The impact that will be seen in the next
annual report, however, is how much money was saved on travel