The Early Movers

Microsoft was an early mover in the drive toward sustainable business travel practices. The technology giant has offset all business travel emissions since 2012, according to global director of travel, meetings and payment Eric Bailey. In 2019 the company joined a partnership with KLM to support sustainable aviation fuel production as a way to increased demand for and invest in the future of sustainable travel. The company has since signed a similar commitment with Alaska Airlines. Upon joining the KLM program, Bailey underscored the role corporations and powerful travel managers have in accelerating sustainability efforts in the travel industry.

“Small changes can have a big impact when it comes to climate change, especially when those changes are made by large global corporations,” he said in October 2019. “Today represents a step change, where we’re moving beyond our employee impact, towards using our influence to drive industry-wide shifts reducing air travel emissions.” 

Several other companies joined the KLM program. In 2019, the airline had signed 14 organizations, including big corporate travel names like Accenture. In 2021, that participant number has inched up to 16, and other SAF efforts focused on business travel and corporate partnerships have also emerged. 

United announced this month the Eco-Skies Alliance with initial participation from 11 corporate partners including Autodesk, BCG, CEVA Logistics, Deloitte, DHL, DSV, HP, Nike, Palantir, Siemens and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The collective will help United purchase more than 3.4 million gallons of SAF this year. Another alliance announced last week by EMI and the Environmental Defense Fund is the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Alliance. The group will focus on standards, SAF emissions accounting and policy, and will additionally work on reducing barriers to innovation and achieving production at scale, as well as SAF certification and investment opportunities. Founding members of the alliance include Boeing, BCG, Deloitte, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Netflix and Salesforce.

Investing in SAF, which has long been a focus for the airline industry, is just one way to reduce business travel emissions. There are more, see chart below.