Paul Tilstone
Two-thirds of 90 British companies polled by the Institute of Travel Management have implemented corporate social responsibilityprograms, ITM said this month. Regarding environmental protection, the survey of firms collectively spending more than £ 800 million ($1.5 billion) annually on travel found "most corporations are encouraging a reduction in emissions rather than offset. Forty-five percent of companies encourage reduction in CO2 emissions through reduced travel--for example using video/teleconference specifically with emission reduction in mind, and not just to cut costs." The Transnationallast week spoke with ITM executive director Paul Tilstone about the findings and CSR in general.
Why are these concerns greater, or more universally recognized, in parts of the world other than the United States, particularly the United Kingdom?
I'm not sure I agree that's the case. Most of the stuff I've seen recently--not necessarily from the travel arena but from life in general--has emanated from the States. Perhaps there's a tendency in Europe to simply take at face value claims that the world is doomed, and there obviously needs to be some sensible debate and representation of all the facts. I don't think anybody disagrees that there are certain elements of travel that need to be addressed, but to what extent is debatable. Everyone sees the States as a more dynamic and capitalist environment, where in Europe there are a lot more social elements at work. When you look at CSR, it's not just the environment, it's also duty of careand sustainability, and those are perhaps woven into the fabric of Europe with more strength. In the States, business is king, and one suspects that's the case in the emerging markets as well.
When these issues become a matter of profit, that seems to stimulate companies. For some, environmental impactis a big deal because it's a matter of energy efficiency. Are you finding the same?
That will be what will tip this whole issue over the brink and make it something that [concerns] every individual. I think it's also driven by consumer demand. The younger generations are coming through with environmental concerns ingrained in their personas, and now it's at a point where consumers are becoming more discerning. So it becomes about business and changing your product to make sure it's something the consumer wants. The potential for environmental taxes specifically on air, car and rail travel is not just a case of travel buyers thinking in terms of CSR; it then becomes a cost for the travel buyer. You see now on a grand scale with sports products and brands that were lambasted here and around the world for using sweatshops--that quickly became an issue for consumers in the U.K. I think the producers were quick to react. You also can see the incredible take-up and purchase in supermarkets of things like "fair trade" tea, where you know the producer of that tea is getting fair wage and has fair working environments.
There are a lot of emotional elements to this. It seems that when people talk about things like fair trade, someone in the business community is bound to label them a communist or socialist. And it goes the other way. You mentioned the sweatshops as an example. Using a carbon offsetting program, Nike was one of the first companies in the U.S. to publicize any sort of connection between business travel and environmental concerns. That kind of thing can generate a backlash from the political left, where someone may say the company is only doing it for public relations. So people are stuck with different perceptions. Have you talked with members about these issues?
There's a certain amount of cynicism behind carbon offsetting, in that it's simply offloading the problem. I think there is an element of PR and short term [thinking]. I'm not saying carbon offsetting is not part of the equation, but actually I think it's the lesser part and what we should be looking at is carbon reduction. Right alongside that are a couple of issues that will be influential in this whole debate, which are security/risk and work-life balance. Those two elements, and a requirement to reduce carbon instead of offsetting, will influence the global travel market from a long-term point of view. People are going to decide they might not need to travel as much as they do because they want a family life instead of being chained to their office or being away all the time. Corporations will consider whether they need to be sending their people left, right and center in a much more risky world--putting their assets at risk unnecessarily.
These concerns more prevalent among bigger companies. Certainly that could be about brand recognition and shareholder activism, but are there other reasons that smaller companies are less active with CSR?
I think its also about time, money and processes. In large organizations your processes are probably split and defined more clearly. So you probably have an element assigned to risk and a dedicated element assigned to human resources, whereas a smaller company might not have a dedicated HR individual. For larger organizations, yes it is important to be seen as doing this, but also they have the resources. At the moment, it's probably not high on the smaller companies' agendas. They're too busy fighting to make a reasonable profit and maintain their supply chain effectively.
What about travel management companies, which in many cases are handling a larger portion of the travel management functions for smaller companies than larger ones?
TMCs are required in most of these areas to assist clients. Personally, I think the buyer is leading this and the TMC is responding. Looking at something that should be as simple as CO2 emission reporting, I don't know many TMCs that do it, and even for those that do it, I don't how many clients they do it for. Before you start to solve this problem, as a standard you should have carbon emissions reporting from your TMC. Then you can understand the impact of decisions. In my mind, this is where self-booking tools could take the lead, where those providers not only come up with the car or train to the airport, flights, and hotel, but also compare alternate transport costs, giving you the carbon emissions, as well. The TMC and the self-booking tool communities are not picking this up as quickly as expected by the buyers, and that's possibly because TMCs are wondering whether this is a fad and whether they should be investing money. There are a number of buyers out there who are very serious about CSR, and I think the TMCs should be providing more support. In some cases, I'm sure they are, but publicly we don't see that.