2020 U.S.-Booked Air Volume: $10.6 million
Consolidated U.S. TMC: BCD
BTN estimates professional services firm Jacobs spent over
$10 million in U.S.-booked air in 2020, about a fifth of its pre-pandemic
levels.
As a result of business travel cut in the U.S., carbon
emissions related to business travel in 2020 were down about 50 percent year
over year to 53,533 metric tons. At the onset of the pandemic in March, Jacobs
quickly restricted business travel and moved more than 85 percent of its
employees to a remote working environment. The other 15 percent remained as
mission critical.
As business travel is Jacobs’ largest source of carbon
emissions, the firm already had a plan in place to reduce carbon emissions by
20 percent from 2019 levels by 2022. As part of their Climate Action Plan, the
company committed to 100 percent renewable energy for its operations and
net-zero business travel in 2020, which it achieved, and set a goal of being
carbon negative for its operations and business travel by 2030. They also
created an employee dashboard in which its travelers can view their own carbon
footprints and see whether they are helping to meet those goals.
Jacobs aims to prevent business travel emissions from
rebounding to pre-pandemic levels as business travel patterns return to normal.
Its strategies include increased use of remote conferencing technology for both
internal and external meetings, conducting training online instead of in-person,
promoting virtual professional and industry association conferences and
increased telecommuting. By 2030, Jacobs plans to have emissions reduced to 50
percent of 2019 levels.
Jacobs reported $13.6 billion in revenues in 2020, up from
$12.7 billion in 2019. The firm reported about 55,000 employees in 2020, up
from about 52,000 in 2019.