„The German business travel association VDR has developed an 8-step model that helps companies to noticeably reduce their carbon footprint in business travel.”
The model was developed as part of the sustainability project “Climate-friendly business travel through consistent CO2 reduction”, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) and its measure “LIFT Climate”. The focus here is on small and medium-sized enterprises in order to support them more strongly in implementing the sustainability goals that will be required in the future. The aim is to maintain company mobility and at the same time reduce the CO2 share of business travel. It’s all about less complexity and more transparency, emphasises project manager Ludger Bals.
The “8 steps to climate-friendly business travel” were developed together with the business travel agencies ADAC Reisevertrieb, Amex GBT, ATG Travel Deutschland, BCD Travel Germany, CWT, DERPART Travel Service, Egencia, FCM Travel and Lufthansa City Center and have already been introduced by them in practice.
Step 1 involves deciding whether the trip makes sense and should take place. If yes, it is a matter of goal-oriented planning and intelligent booking. This is done by making sustainable offers visible to the business travellers in order to encourage them to choose the “greener” alternative. In addition, step 4 is to make the employee aware of climate-friendly offers again and again during his business trip. After the business trip, transparent accounting including CO2 values must be guaranteed as well as the calculation and compensation of the CO2 footprint. At the end of the chain, with steps 7 and 8, is the consideration of sustainable purchasing and the control of all measures in line with the company’s targets.
The VDR is convinced that by implementing this template, a company can demonstrably reduce the CO2 share in the area of business travel. Interested companies can contact the VDR or their supervising business travel agency for a pilot. Further information on the VDR sustainability project here.
Photo: © istock.com/Petmal © Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e. V. (Grafik)
