Shifting Mode
Low carbon strategies to reduce business travel costs (Due January 2010).
Introduction
Climate change, increasing fuel prices, regulation and shifting client expectations all present challenges for the way companies organise travel.
Depending on the sector, business travel can account for up to three-quarters of a company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A coherent, low carbon business travel strategy is therefore a central, and publicly visible, part of a company’s climate change toolkit. This report:
- Explains why leading companies are reviewing and transforming their business travel policies.
- Analyses the most effective strategies for managing the environmental and economic risks associated with business travel.
- Offers a range of case studies showing good practice.
- Shows how reducing climate change impact and costs go hand-in-hand.
Research
VIPRE UK partnered ENDS Carbon to undertake desk research, interviews and a survey of over 20 leading companies to deliver insights and forecasts for low carbon business travel.
Benefits
- Provides an up-to-date insider’s view of how corporate low carbon business travel is managed.
- Highlights how to transform travel practices.
- Defines the most effective corporate low carbon business travel strategies.
- Identifies future trends.
Who should buy it?
CR managers, finance managers, human resource managers and operations managers.
Publication date
December 2009.
Report contents
Executive summary
1 Introduction
- Understanding business travel
- A low carbon business travel framework
- Incentives for change
- Overview: state of business travel carbon performance
2 Drivers for change
- Reducing costs
- Minimising GHG emissions
- Anticipating regulation
3 Understanding company business travel
- How good is your data? Building an accurate picture of business travel patterns. Desk research and survey results
- Setting organisational and operational boundaries
- Calculating GHG emissions from business travel
4 Avoiding travel through creative planning
- Is your journey really necessary? How to avoid travel
- Creative low-tech and high-tech alternatives to travel. Desk research and survey responses
- Critical success factors
5 A business travel hierarchy
- Business travel policy: survey results and case studies
- Walking, cycling, public transport and lift sharing
- Alternatives to air travel
- Outlook to 2015
6 Managing vehicle travel more effectively
- Company approaches to vehicle travel. Desk and survey results
- Low carbon travel and fleet procurement and management
- Minimising mileage and fuel use
- Business travel and Corporate Manslaughter regulation in the UK
- Outlook to 2015
7 Building a low carbon business travel culture
- Critical success factors
- Creating opportunities
- Changing perceptions
- Informing and educating
- Motivating
8 Conclusions
Proposed figures
- Low carbon business travel framework
- Setting boundaries
- Calculating GHG emissions from travel
- Good quality data checklist
- Traditional business travel hierarchy
- A sustainable business travel hierarchy
- Getting started: a sample business travel hierarchy
- Critical success factors for a low carbon business travel culture
Proposed tables
- DEFRA GHG conversion factors
- % of companies reporting business travel data in key sectors
- Variance of business travel carbon intensity between key sectors
- Business travel carbon performance for key sectors compared
Tables from our survey findings
- Percentage of responding organisations overall footprint attributable to business travel
- Most important reasons for shift to lower carbon business travel
- Key barriers to organisational change
- Common methods of monitoring and recording business travel patterns
- Reductions in business travel-related GHG emissions over time
- Use of strategies to reduce the need to travel
- Use of strategies to encourage lowcarbon travel
- Use of strategies to reduce carbon emissions from vehicle travel.
