The introduction of the Climate Change Bill in April this year means that recording the carbon emissions relating to every business trip will become important. This will force corporates and their TMCs to learn more about tracking emissions. It will also push corporates to become more strategic in their approach to travel management.
Accommodation
A recent Travel News poll revealed that 92% of respondents’ corporate clients currently do not specify that their travellers stay in accommodation with a specific carbon footprint.
“Accommodation plays a significant role. There are quite a number of hotels that do comply with carbon emission tracking and issue very good reports for their corporate clients. It is important for corporates to ask for information about their initiatives, future plans and what has been implemented,” says Maureen Masuku, Rand Merchant Bank’s head of Travel & Marketing Sourcing and, GBTA SA Board Chairperson.
According to Masuku, more and more hotels have sustainability initiatives in place, such as ethical waste disposal, recycling and energy reduction mechanisms in every room to improve their carbon footprint.
While many corporates may be unaware of what sustainability initiatives and data is available from hotels at the moment, emission-tracking is going to become one of the criteria on RFQs when corporates are searching for hotels that they can work with, explains Masuku.
“Sustainability is a new thing for everyone and has never been enforced before. Corporates are not aware what hotels can offer in terms of tracking. The corporates that I have actually spoken to, have asked me: How do you measure this? How do you measure so that you get proper results? How do we find an average for travellers staying at a hotel with this specific carbon footprint?”
Masuku explains that carbon emission tracking has to be a criterion when corporates select hotels, so the tracking data can feed into the corporate’s own emissions data, allowing the corporate to comply with new emission tracking legislation.
Flights
The imminent need for emission tracking has also raised concerns regarding the corporate’s selection of air travel. Many corporates currently opt for the cheapest flight, which usually means indirect flights, more air miles and multiple connections. Now, the need to comply with the Bill will make corporates more conscious of the distances they travel and the carbon emitted.
Masuku felt that this would not discourage corporate travel, but it would require TMCs and travel managers to become more innovative and strategic about how they use their flights with multiple legs.
“Corporates need to strengthen their policy, so that if their employee travels to Europe, and connects via Dubai, they meet other clients in Dubai. We need to be smarter in terms of how we will be traveling for business,” says Masuku.
Masuku says when leisure travellers are flying using connections, agents will often recommend that the travellers take advantage of their connection in London or Dubai, by spending a night or two exploring the city. In the same way, it will be up to corporate travel managers to optimise the use of these connections for other business meetings and business-related purposes.
“Travel managers and TMCs need to be smarter on how they are advising their clients, so they can travel and still comply with new legislation. It’s not going to reduce travel, we just need to be smarter,” says Masuku.