As the world's largest private charitable foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation decided several years ago to take stock of ways it could control its own environmental impact. It became clear travel had to be the main target. The foundation travels to 135 countries, said deputy director of global travel and mobility Pam Massey, and for crossborder flights allows business class, which carries a larger carbon footprint than economy class. While there are a few other controllable factors—waste and building emissions, for example—business travel makes up 86 percent of the foundation's carbon footprint, she said.
The foundation's first instinct was simply to cut travel, but it realized it needed a deeper solution, she said. "It became evident quickly that our work and the foundation's work, being involved in the communities we are in and how we outreach to the world—we need to be there in person," Massey said. "We can't stop travel, so how can we think about this differently?"
The foundation has had a policy of sharing its own mission and strategy with suppliers as a part of quarterly business reviews, and Delta came back with an offer to provide carbon offsets so long as the foundation met its contractual obligations with the carrier. The foundation has done so every year since and, over the past four years, has offset about 12,000 metric tons of carbon emissions.
The foundation and Delta found ways to work together to make sure the foundation met its obligations and that its travelers were aware of the program. Banners notified employees booking on Concur that they were "flying greener skies" when choosing Delta, and the carrier participated in the foundation's Earth Day festivities, which Massey said helped with compliance. "It's hard to tell, when you have a partner giving you the right fares and the right schedule, what's moving the needle, but it was definitely a factor," she said.
Delta since has revealed that it is piloting its offset program for corporate accounts with a few other clients—including Merck, UCB and Columbia Sportswear—and is looking to expand with more travel programs. Agreements with each client differ, but they're based on the travel program meeting contractual goals, said Delta SVP of global sales Bob Somers. "Over the last several years, anytime we are with customers, sustainability comes up, and a lot of companies have that as a paramount endeavor for them," he said.
The foundation also wanted to ensure the offsets became a reality in a way that coincided with its mission. It chose the Uchindile Mapanda project in Tanzania, which focuses on reforestation and improving communities via better access to potable water, accommodations for teachers to reduce turnover and housing for nurses to benefit health services. "We wanted to be sure the organization we are working with aligns with where we do our work and what the work is about," Massey said. "We're not just delivering on one goal. It's multilayered and really aligning with what we want to do."