Is Your Travel Policy Green? How to Integrate Sustainability into Your Corporate Travel Policy
At Chapman & Carter, we're a trusted ally in sustainable business travel—helping organisatons build travel proframmes that reduce environmental impact without sacrificing performance or budget. One area that often flies under the radar (pun intended) is corporate travel. Think flights, hotel stays, car rentals—all of that adds up to a pretty big chunk of your company’s carbon footprint. As more businesses aim to shrink their environmental impact, it’s worth asking: is your travel policy as green as it could be?
Updating your corporate travel policy to reflect sustainability objectives not only helps the environment but can also enhance your company’s brand reputation, reduce costs, and meet the growing demands of eco-conscious employees and clients. Below are practical steps to guide you in transforming your travel policy into a more sustainable, eco-friendly framework.
Audit Your Current Travel Policy & Carbon Footprint
Before making changes, it’s important to understand your current footprint. At Chapman & Carter, we conduct custom travel audits that provide a clear, data-driven picture of your organisation's travel habits and environmental impact.
Accommodation: Do your employees stay in eco-certified hotels or choose sustainable options where possible?
Air Travel: Which routes are most frequent? Are there short-haul flights that could be replaced with trains or buses?
Ground Transportation: Are employees renting cars unnecessarily? Are there options for public transportation or ride-sharing services?
Conducting a carbon footprint analysis will help you understand where the biggest environmental impacts lie and where changes can be made. From here, you can help define measurable goals—like reducing air travel emissions or increasing eco-certified hotel bookings.
Encourage Virtual Meetings
The most sustainable trip is the one you don’t take. A lot of face-to-face meetings can be replaced with virtual meetings via video conferencing platforms. Through implementing a policy that prioritises virtual meetings where possible, your company can reduce the need for air travel and lower your carbon footprint.
It’s also essential to assess whether a meeting can be conducted remotely before booking travel. Encouraging virtual collaboration can make a substantial difference in both the cost and environmental impact of travel.
Promote Sustainable Modes of Transport
For travel that does occur, it’s crucial to prioritise greener transportation options:
Flights: If flying is necessary, encourage employees to fly direct, as layovers and connecting flights often increase emissions. Choose airlines with strong sustainability programs that use fuel-efficient aircrafts or offset carbon emissions. Our favourites include KLM, Etihad and British Airways—all of which have made notable investments in sustainable aviation practices and carbon reduction initiatives.
Rail: In regions with efficient rail networks, promote train travel over short-distance flights. Rail is often a much more eco-friendly option, emitting fewer carbon emissions per passenger.
Public Transport: Whenever possible, recommend using public transport instead of renting cars.
Rental Cars: If car rentals are essential, encourage the use of electric vehicles or ride-sharing services, which can help reduce the number of single-occupant vehicles on the road.
Choose Eco-Friendly Accommodation
When it comes to sustainable travel, where your employees stay matters just as much as how they get there. Choosing eco-friendly accommodations is a simple yet impactful way to reduce your businesses travel-related carbon footprint.
Look for hotels that have earned certifications from organisations like EarthCheck, Green Globe, or Green Key. These certifications indicate that the hotels adhere to rigorous sustainability standards.
Implement A Carbon Offset Programme
For travel that is unavoidable, companies can take a proactive approach by integrating carbon offset programmes into their travel policies. Doing so allows businesses to invest in projects that reduce or remove carbon emissions elsewhere.
Several airlines, including British Airways and Emirates, offer carbon offset options when booking flights, and many companies have started to integrate this option into their travel procedures. Encouraging employees to choose carbon offsets when booking their travel is a tangible step towards mitigating their environmental impact.
Incorporate Sustainability Into Your Travel Policy
Once you have identified the most impactful changes for your business travel, it’s time to revise your travel policy. A sustainable travel policy should:
Set clear goals: Define objectives such as reducing travel emissions by a certain percentage or increasing the number of virtual meetings over in-person ones.
Create guidelines for accommodation and transportation: Outline preferred sustainable modes of transport and criteria for selecting eco-friendly accommodation.
Encourage behaviour change: Provide incentives for employees who choose sustainable travel options.
Track and Measure Progress
Tracking the effectiveness of your green travel initiatives is essential to ensuring continuous improvement. Use data to monitor the carbon emissions associated with corporate travel and measure the success of your new policies.
At Chapman & Carter, we help you go beyond generic offsetting by giving you the tools to track, analyse, and act on your travel emissions. With our detailed monthly CO₂ tracking, you get a clear, detailed view of your travel-related carbon footprint—broken down by trip, traveller, and service type (air, hotel, rail, or car). This enables smarter decision-making when it comes to planning future travel and identifying high-impact areas for reduction. Find out more here.
So, is your travel policy green? If not, it’s time to make it so.
At Chapman & Carter, we partner with businesses to embed sustainability into their travel policies from the ground up. From emissions tracking and eco-accommodation sourcing to carbon offset integration, we help turn sustainability goals into measurable, meaningful action.
Join the companies already making their travel policies greener with Chapman & Carter. Speak to our team about your next steps today here.
