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Economic Blues Don't Fade Rise Of Green Travel Management
By Seth Harris
MARCH 30, 2009 --
Green travel management has not waned despite a soured economy and travel buyers' focus increasingly turning to finding cost savings. Buyers have made environmental awareness part of such broader travel-curbing demand management initiatives as remote conferencing deployment, and suppliers' green credentials continue to mature.
According to a recent BTN survey of 197 corporate travel buyers, 39 percent said they consider such issues in their buying processes, up from 29 percent in 2008. Yet, that hasn't directly translated to the final selection process, as only 16.5 percent of this year's respondents said they select a vendor based on environmental positions, an increase from 11 percent last year.
Meanwhile, travel buyers now are supplying carbon-footprint data to other departments within the organization, including senior managers with sustainability or corporate social responsibility roles who are dealing with the potential effects of coming U.S. and existing European legislation to curb air travel carbon emissions.
The European Union governing bodies already approved a series of measures to curb transport carbon emissions. In June, they approved a plan that airlines operating in the EU must join a carbon-emissions cap-and-trade system no later than 2012 (BTNonline, July 21, 2008).
According to BCD Travel's 2008 Travel Program Survey of 333 travel buyers, 34 percent said they have full responsibility for sustainable travel. Another 19 percent said they serve as a CSR advisor within their company.
Corporate Travel 100 financial services company Deutsche Bank uses its global data reporting technology to support its global corporate social responsibility efforts, which include offsetting companywide carbon emissions. "Now it's about how we take it down to the employee level and make them more responsible," said head of global travel related services Debbie Dayton.
The bank also has initiated green guidelines around supplier programs, developing a list of the most critical green components of a venue for meeting planners to evaluate as part of the request-for-proposals process.
The bank also includes green questions in RFPs for transient travel suppliers. On April 1, green-designated suppliers will be highlighted in Deutsche Bank's online booking tool and noted with its travel management company. "The goal is clearly going to be that we are going to direct business to our green partners," Dayton said.
The National Business Travel Association in March awarded its first Corporate Social Responsibility award to Symantec vice president of global operations John Sorci and director of corporate responsibility Cecily Joseph for the computer software security company's efforts to minimize emissions through videoconferencing and reducing employee automobile travel around its Silicon Valley headquarters by 11 percent, accounting for a 9 percent greenhouse gas emissions decrease. Symantec plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 15 percent by the end of its 2012 fiscal year.
Estée Lauder's Aveda brand, which has an eco-friendly business mission, uses some green evaluation standards for meeting sites, a process that eventually will carry over to the companywide hotel program, according to executive director of travel and meeting services Cindy Shumate.
Green practices are most common in meetings and hotel procurement, but TMCs also are being viewed through a green scope. About 80 percent of the RFPs Carlson Wagonlit Travel receives contain questions about emissions, carbon calculation tools and CSR codes of conduct, said global product director of online booking and environment David Tibbles.
While some buyers are carrying their green efforts into their recession-era travel management practices, others are not as successful. According to a new AirPlus International survey, 19.4 percent of 139 travel buyers in North America and Europe said the economy has overshadowed their existing green travel initiatives. Conversely, 31 percent said the economy has increased commitment or awareness of their green travel efforts. "They have to be able to connect the environmental concern with a bottom-line impact," said AirPlus president Richard Crum. "If they can connect that to cost savings, those things move forward. If they can't, it's being put on the back burner."
In a January CWT Travel Management Institute report, 18 percent of 178 travel managers said managing an environmentally friendly program is a higher priority in 2009, but it remains last on a list of 11 priorities.
"People are concerned with making the economical right choices, but they also are being pressured to make environmentally good choices too," said Advito general manager Mary Ellen George. "They are not going to take a more expensive supplier, especially in this environment."
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