Shortly after Ernst & Young in January created an "internal leadership position focusing on developing and instituting environmental best practices" throughout its offices in the Americas, several key sustainability initiatives have permeated travel and transportation.
Recycling, waste reduction and, perhaps most pragmatically, the use of public transportation instead of black car services now are elements of everyday business life for commuters and travelers in the $21 billion professional services firm, which counts 38,000 employees in the Americas. [Overall, the company has 130,000 employees in 140 countries.]
Speaking last week at a New York City Business Travel Association event, Ernst & Young meeting manager Loretta Larkey acknowledged the challenges presented by the lack of industry standards on measuring supplier sustainability, but argued that "baby steps" can lead to an environmentally sustainable program.
"Until there is a national certification, we as buyers can't ask hotels to really offer everything," said Larkey. "However, we are accounting for anything and everything."
The company is pushing preferred hotel properties to create agreements with local food banks to donate leftover food to the needy after meetings and events.
"My largest personal initiative will be the rescuing of food," said Larkey. "If a hotel cannot offer a food rescue program, then we are asking them to compost it. There are a lot of different things that they can do, and we expect our host and our meeting planners on the meeting side to sell the program that way." Larkey selected 291 meetings properties in 55 cities that have agreed to rescue food.
Larkey said such waste management could lead to the rescue of such other items as flowers, which could be donated to nursing homes or hospitals. Ernst & Young also requires its meetings properties to provide "no bottled water, only carafes in the back of the room."
Meanwhile, in an area related to the more traditional environmental concern about carbon emissions, Ernst & Young is eliminating the use of unnecessary black car service, Larkey said.
Ernst & Young recently relocated 1,200 employees to its Secaucus, N.J. office, forcing some to commute daily to and from its Times Square location. Instead of hiring a black car or limo service that costs the company about $80 per trip, employees are "encouraged" to use the bus, a cost of $3.15, Larkey said.
"We are all on the bus; no more black cars to the office in Times Square," said Larkey. "There is no policy in place. However, our Americas CFO is on the bus. So if you want your job, you probably aren't going to take a black car into the city."
Public transport is even encouraged for out-of-town visitors who may be staying in a hotel outside the city's center. In New York, for example, Ernst & Young needed 25,000 room nights last year but could not contract enough rooms. Instead of booking in Manhattan, Larkey looked at secondary and tertiary properties in the surrounding areas and suggested that employees use public transportation to attend meetings.
For short-haul intercity transport, rail is preferred. "We moved a lot of the Boston and New York City meetings to places like Stamford, Conn. It is one-third of the price, and people in the New York area already live in New Jersey or Connecticut, so how did they get there?" Larkey asked rhetorically. "The train."
Larkey's team is developing a ground transportation request for proposals that includes several green questions that were developed internally.
She said one concern is the cost of hybrid car rentals. "People started to do what they thought was the good thing and rent a green car, but it was more money," said Larkey. "We are now really looking and seeing what we can do on the expense side, because it is unfair to say to folks go out and rent a hybrid and now your expenses are being questioned because it costs so much more."