Looking around GBTA¡¯s buzzing conference in Chicago in August, I began to ponder: ¡°How did we get here?¡± Not a philosophical question but a very practical one ¡­ if most of the 7,000 delegates travelled on return flights, how could we square that with environmental sustainability, a topic front of mind for every corporate leader?

Connect with Douglas O'Neill

Douglas O'Neill is the Owner & CEO of Inntel - The Meetings & Travel Management Company. Connect with him:

• Twitter @DouglasOneill1
• LinkedIn
• Website: https://www.inntel.co.uk/

Yes, Convention 2019 had a sustainability programme, from online registration to printed materials certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and from digital signage to donating unused convention bags to local schools ¡­?

But there is still the environmental impact of flying. If aviation were a country, it would be the world¡¯s 6^th largest CO₂ emitter, between Japan and Germany!

Yet there are so many benefits to face-to-face meetings ¨C group interaction and body language are just some of them, according to research cited by Forbes. And it would be economically disastrous to demand an end to events that require significant business travel.

We also know that society is very bad at accepting regressive changes.

So what progressive initiatives should businesses be considering? All organisations have sustainability and CSR policies, and there are some interesting ideas below around how we might deploy these policies to help offset travel.

Biofuels

Giving travellers a choice is pivotal.?

I was fascinated to learn that those flying with SAS can now opt to buy biofuel, helping cut CO₂ emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel. ??

This is a non-profit service aiming to pioneer a large-scale and competitive market for biofuel within aviation, because the volumes being produced today are not enough and the price is three to four times higher than fossil jet fuel.

Customers can pay when they book their ticket or any time before departure. The cost is US$10/€10 per block of 20 minutes¡¯ flight time, and travellers can buy as many blocks as they wish.

Significantly, SAS answers environmentalists¡¯ concerns by only using biofuel made from sources not affecting the availability of crops used in food production, access to potable water, biodiversity, and which use as small an area of land as possible.?

This initiative, inviting travellers to be part of the transition to a more sustainable way of flying, seems such a positive step I wonder if we corporate leaders should be demanding this from other airlines to help develop sustainable travel faster?

BA has already pledged to invest ?327m in sustainable fuel over the next 20 years, including a joint venture to build a waste-to-jet fuel plant in the UK.?

And other European companies have begun to produce jet fuel from the jatropha plant (part of the nettle family), while test flights with airlines and the US military have shown that blends of petroleum-based jet fuel and bio-jet fuel are safe and effective.

Carbon offsetting

More businesses are adopting a policy of paying for carbon offset, but what does this mean and how should we carry out due diligence in this area?

Carbon offsetting is designed to allow individuals and organisations to compensate for the CO₂ emissions produced from their journeys, by paying for projects that reduce an equivalent amount of emissions, such as planting trees or installing solar panels.

That this is a hot topic is underlined by the UK Government recently launching an investigation into whether companies selling travel tickets ¨C including for flights ¨C should be legally bound to offer carbon offsets to travellers.?

Next year is when the global aviation industry aims to achieve carbon-neutral growth through the UN¡¯s CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) scheme. This market-based mechanism, which has been agreed by 192 countries, should ensure that any rise in global aviation emissions above 2020 levels are offset elsewhere.?

When it comes to due diligence, it is telling that the terms of the Government inquiry include looking at ¡°concerns that some consumers may not trust that their payments are supporting worthwhile, quality projects.¡±?

Carbon Footprint lists schemes that meet the requirements of the Quality Assurance Standard (QAS) for?Carbon Offsetting.

Generational shift

I am not surprised that there is a generational shift towards offsetting, according to recent research in the leisure market that would logically apply to business travellers as well. Adventure travel company Intrepid found:?

• 58% of travellers say sustainability affects their travel choices
• only 20% of travellers aged 55+ would like the chance to offset compared to 44% of those born in the late 1990s.

I¡¯m sure that businesses in the future will have to make sustainable travel choices to attract the best employees, as well as customers.

It is this change in attitudes that is informing initiatives such as BA¡¯s decision to offset all domestic flight emissions from 2020. This will save 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ per annum ¨C again giving the traveller more choice, this time at a cost to the airline of c. ?3m next year.

BA owner IAG, which also operates Aer Lingus and Iberia, is the first airline group to have committed to net-zero carbon flying by 2050.

Exciting projects ahead

There are exciting projects underway. Rolls-Royce has spent a decade creating its most environmentally friendly aero engine to date ¨C which it calls a ¡°lean-burn and low-emissions combustion system¡±.? Designed to be 25% more fuel efficient, it is now undergoing testing.

Airbus and SAS are jointly researching the development of partly or fully electric aircraft, while another Rolls-Royce project is a high-performance all-electric aeroplane with a target speed of more than 300mph. Scheduled for take-off from a landing strip on the Welsh coast in 2020, it hopes to beat the record of 217 mph set by a Siemens all-electric plane in 2017.

It¡¯s part-funded by the UK government and although the current model is more of an ¡°air taxi¡± with between four and six seats than a commercial airliner, perhaps in the future it will be fit for mainstream use.

So how are sustainability-conscious corporates to navigate this evolving landscape? Meetings and events must go on, after all. I would suggest a good first step is working with a travel management company that has expertise in sustainability and the latest information at its fingertips.