BCD Travel's Advito consultancy and travel technology provider Tripkicks have partnered to develop a carbon footprint tracker for travelers to monitor their environmental impact within their booking tool, the companies announced.
Advito and Tripkicks worked with joint clients to develop Carbon Footprints, which uses Tripkicks' technology and Advito's Gate4 carbon methodology to show travelers data around their travel activity, including their individual year-to-date air travel emissions and a comparison of their activity to prior years. The tool is designed to be easily understood by travelers. Data, for example, is put into the context of equivalents such as numbers of miles driven or number of hours spent on videoconferencing calls that would equal the same output, and trending data is shown with a red up arrow for increasing emissions and a green down arrow for decreasing emissions.
Users also have the option to monitor progress toward an individual carbon budget for the year.
"We consistently hear from companies who have a business imperative to reduce their travel footprint and are looking for more ways to take action," Tripkicks VP of business development Colleen Black said in a statement. "It was important for us to build something that was simple, impactful and highly visible for travelers."
Deploying Carbon Footprints does not require any additional setup or third-party integration for Tripkicks clients, the companies said.
Bloomberg was among the early adopters who helped Advito and Tripkicks develop Carbon Footprints. The tool is "something that does not exist in our industry: a solution that goes beyond abstract numbers and creates a meaningful connection between our travelers' actions and companywide goals," according to Bloomberg global travel manager Rafael Rosario.
Advito and Tripkicks have been partners for several years, including Tripkicks providing Gate4 reporting in SAP Concur's online booking tool. The companies said they have "more enhancements planned for the near future."