BTN Research: More Cos. Consider Environmental Impact Of Business Travel
Though some corporations continue to advance green travel practices, the majority of respondents to a recent Business Travel News survey said their companies do not take environmental issues into consideration when making travel-buying decisions.
Many in the industry have said environmental questions are becoming commonplace on travel supplier requests for proposals, and 29 percent of 196 respondents said they actually evaluate green criteria when selecting travel suppliers, although only 11 percent said a supplier's green credentials led to its selection.
However, the rising tide of environmental consciousness and corporate responsibility initiatives is expected to increase those numbers in coming years as many companies begin to expand green initiatives.
"It's still in the early stages, but is moving forward," said Bob Brindley, vice president of the Americas for Advito, BCD Travel's consulting division. "It's becoming a standard question in RFPs, both from a hotel and air perspective." Still, he said, by and large any indications of an airline's green cred are "not overriding any fare differentials" in the course of negotiations.
A growing number of large corporations, including Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, News Corp., Nike and Sun Microsystems, have adopted a greener travel stance in recent years, in many cases as part of a companywide social responsibility initiative. Many other companies increasingly are exploring travel alternatives, setting green policies, taking stock of their carbon footprint and in some cases selecting vendors based on green criteria.
"Within our policy practice, it's being addressed more and more," said Mitch Cwanger, American Express Advisory Services senior practice leader for air. "Companies are talking green in travel polices, but whether they are making changes as far as the buying decision is concerned, it's still in its infancy."
Sun Microsystems, like many other companies, said it has included environmental questions in its requests for proposals, but by year-end the company will take the next step as it intends to incorporate environmental evaluations into buying decisions.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun already asks suppliers to detail "information about the environmental benefits of their products and evidence of corporate responsibility initiatives within their own operations," according to its 2007 social responsibility report. By the end of 2008, the report said Sun would "incorporate corporate social responsibility into procurement decisions and develop metrics to track our progress."
Though the green travel movement in the United States remains in its infancy, an environment of higher fuel prices, more environmental policy from the government and a culture where "there's more balance between economic concerns and environmental concerns" have enabled European corporations to take the lead in recent years, according to Herman Mensink, vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa for airline data consolidator Prism Group.
"I have not seen any corporate that does not have a green paragraph in their RFPs," Mensink said of European companies. Mensink said in most cases such considerations as aircraft type and age of fleet are at least evaluated in the course of airline negotiations, and in some cases such factors have become deal-breakers.
"I have known two corporates that say it is a make-or-break issue. Often, those airlines [without green credentials] don't even get past the first round of negotiations because of the fact that this is among the first criteria being discussed," Mensink said. "Sometimes there's no choice, if your volume is automatically tied to a specific airline because of the origins and destinations you're using, but if [European] corporations have a choice, it's part of the consideration."
Mensink said many companies in Europe continue to refine policies to encourage the use of rail over airlines on short-haul trips, in many cases setting a kilometer threshold. American Express' Cwanger said some companies in the United States also are putting in place policies to encourage alternate transportation, such as trains in the Northeast Corridor, to minimize carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, 19 percent of the respondents to the BTN survey said they already measure the corporate travel contribution to their corporate carbon footprint.
"It's not as common as it is to include green questions in the RFP, but measuring carbon footprints, especially with the multinational companies more so than the smaller companies, is absolutely taking hold," Mensink said.
As part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives, Sun Microsystems said it is working with American Express on a carbon emissions reporting system, so the company can track emissions from all travel categories, including air, car, rail and hotel.