BTN Research: Green Corp. Travel Issues Struggle To Find U.S. Foothold

Making travel programs greener remains a strategy for only a small minority of U.S. companies, according to BTN's 2010 Research Monitor. Only 22 percent of 225 buyer respondents require hotels to detail environmental efforts in requests for proposals, while just 3.6 percent rejected a supplier due to environmental issues.

Anecdotal claims that the United States lags Europe in adopting green travel management were supported by an AirPlus International survey of travel managers in the first quarter of this year. While 11 percent of U.S. travel managers said climate protection features explicitly in their organizations' policy, the figure for Western Europe is 24 percent. Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, considered to be at the forefront of green travel management, are at 46 percent and 42 percent respectively. While 5 percent of U.S. travel managers said their companies make offset payments for travel-related CO₂ emissions, 19 percent of Europeans do.

"The interest is there. Everyone realizes there has been a cultural change that will last from here on, but the reaction in the U.S. has been slow," said University of Texas manager of travel for intercollegiate athletics Kevin Maguire. "I think we are a good five years behind the rest of the world."

Margaret Hansen, Chicago-based director of corporate travel for consulting firm A.T. Kearney, attributes the contrasting transatlantic attitudes to political willpower. The European Union has committed to reducing its emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and is increasing this target to 30 percent. To do so, the EU has introduced an emissions trading program penalizing companies that exceed strict carbon allowances.

"There are laws and government influence outside the U.S. that we don't have yet," said Hansen. "When companies become accountable and have to pay for pollution credits, they will have to give it more attention."

Yet, Hansen and Maguire have demonstrated U.S.-based organizations can make environmental thinking figure prominently in travel programs. A.T. Kearney has made a strong commitment to sustainability, initiated by its managing partner, with travel as a prime target as it accounts for 80 percent of the firm's CO₂ emissions. The business has responded by developing what it calls the Sustainable Travel Planner, which aims to measure travel-related emissions for the firm as a whole, the unit and the employee. As a result, A.T. Kearney can track the number of trips involved in a project and the cost in terms of both dollars and CO₂ emissions.

Hansen is using the information to help reduce traveler footprints, sending fewer colleagues to the same meeting and encouraging travel alternatives. As a result, said Hansen, A.T. Kearney has maintained revenues but reduced both travel costs and emissions. Maguire advocated similar travel-avoiding measures at the University of Austin, and ensuring teams use buses rather than cars when possible.

Both Maguire and Hansen are frustrated that travel suppliers are not joining them on the environmental journey. Maguire points, for example, to the refusal of U.S. hotels to introduce credit card-style room keys ubiquitous in other regions. The cards switch on a room's electricity when inserted in a reader by the door, shutting down all power whenever the guest leaves the room. "Even newly constructed hotels in the United States don't have these keys," said Maguire. "That astounds me."

Hansen is unhappy with the amount of data she receives from suppliers. "They all give me 50 pages on how environmentally clean they are, but they are either wary of or unable to give me a viable metric," she said.

Green travel experts argue the more attention corporate clients draw to environmental issues, the more suppliers will amend their behavior. Paul Tilstone, chief executive of both NBTA Europe and the U.K. and Ireland's Institute of Travel & Meetings, said environmental questions "have become standard" in European travel RFPs, but that still does not necessarily translate into action in terms of supplier selection.

"The question is how much the information influences buyers to do anything about it," Tilstone said. A survey of ITM buyer members conducted at the end of 2009 found the environmental impact of hotel providers is a key element in RFP decision making for only 17 percent of respondents, up from 7 percent in 2008.

One example of progressive green travel management in Europe is Ikea, which restructured its travel strategy in 2008 as three simple objectives: reduce travel costs by 50 percent, reduce travel-related CO₂ emissions by 25 percent and improve the work/life balance of employees.

Ikea global meeting and travel manager Torbjörn Erling told BTN he still is in the early stages of greening his travel program, but the list of works in progress is lengthy. Erling's department communicates the environmental consequences of travel and promotes virtual alternatives.

"Our program is in line with our sustainability statement that we should limit the environmental effect of our activities," said Erling. Sustainability is one of Ikea's four strategic cornerstones and part of every manager's responsibilities.

Erling said the strong commitment to environmentalism is "more a question of ensuring a brand like Ikea is perceived as caring for people and society."

Erling, Tilstone and Hansen all said green is business-friendly. "There is still an impression that it costs to be sustainable when in fact it reduces costs," said Hansen. "You also create a better feeling in the culture of your company. It inspires people: Here's why you want to buy products from us, and here's why you want to work for us."