Eleanor Akers, of Innovative Energy Consultants, innovative-energy.org, has seen first-hand the challenges of decarbonising business travel around the world. Here she shares her team’s latest research into the true cost of business travel and reflects on the emerging technologies promising convenient, low-carbon travel.
Travelling for face-to-face meetings with colleagues, customers, suppliers and investors builds trust and breaks down barriers to communication: both vital to doing business successfully in our globalised world.
Oil-derived fuels like jet fuel, petrol and marine gas oil have powered a transport revolution – in 1945, just nine million people were flying, and in 2019 over 4,490 million of us took to the skies.
It’s not just people – supply chains stretch across the world too. Just open the wardrobe to see cotton grown in India that has been shipped to Turkey to be turned into clothing sold in the UK.
The price of convenience
There is a heavy price to pay for these benefits: global emissions from transport increased by 3% in 2022 and have been the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK since 2016. In addition to contributing to climate change and global warming, emissions of particulate matter, sulphur oxides and nitrous oxides from exhausts and jet engines are damaging to health.
The UK Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants has demonstrated links between air pollution and dementia and attributes up to 36,000 deaths per year to air pollution: making air pollution the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK.
Making the sustainable choice is hard
Unfortunately, the high cost and inconvenience of low-carbon options can make it hard for businesses and individuals to make the sustainable choice. Our analysis shows that for British businesses, the cost of travelling by rail is on average 3.5 times as much as driving. In many cases flying is a cheaper alternative to train travel.
Additionally, there are problems with reliability: a third of British trains suffered from delays in the first quarter of 2024. We have spoken to many employees who perceive reducing costs and time away from the desk by driving, rather than buying a train ticket, to be the right thing to do for their employer.
How businesses can help
For many service providers, such as accountants and consultants, business travel is the largest source of emissions, making decarbonising business travel a core part of their net zero strategy.
An effective way to encourage employees to make the low-carbon travel choice is to provide clear guidelines on the acceptable additional costs and clearly communicate the importance of achieving the business’ emissions reduction goals. Employers can also compensate employees for extra time spent travelling sustainably by offering time off in lieu.
Businesses can also encourage staff and stakeholders to travel sustainably by sharing best practices and information. Telling a supplier that there is a regular bus between the station and your office can give them the confidence to leave the car at home next time they come to visit.
Shuttle buses to and from the nearest station are an effective way for businesses with large workforces to make sustainable commuting an easy and convenient choice for staff. Companies hosting conferences, award ceremonies and other large events can do the same thing to reduce emissions from attendees’ travel.
The business community can also make it clear to the new Labour government that affordable, reliable public transport is a priority. Membership organisations like Chambers of Commerce and industry bodies are well positioned to collate their members’ views and share these with policymakers.
Hope for a low-carbon future
For some journeys, like London to New Yorkw, there are no practical low-carbon travel solutions today. That is changing. Governments around the world, including in the UK, are increasing their support for the development of low-carbon jet fuel or Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
SAF can be produced using renewable energy from household waste, biomass and even from carbon dioxide captured directly from the atmosphere. These emerging technologies offer hope for an interconnected, low-carbon future that allows humanity to enjoy the benefits of globalisation without suffering the consequences of emissions from fossil fuels.
References
www.iea.org/energy-system/transport
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-and-environment-statistics-2023/transport-and-environment-statistics-2023
www.ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-airline-passengers
www.dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance
