BCD Travel has partnered with sustainable travel tech provider eco.mio to display and levy carbon taxes at the point of sale.

Customers of the travel management company are now able to implement a carbon tax at their desired level that is applied to all travel bookings, both online and offline.

The carbon tax ¨C also called a carbon fee ¨C is visible to users at the point of sale, with customers able to choose whether the tax is collected by BCD and invested by the TMC in alternative aviation fuels or other sustainability projects, or returned to the customer to invest how it sees fit. Corporates can also choose to collect the tax internally.

The functionality is enabled by a white-labelled browser plug-in from eco.mio and can be implemented across the booking platforms offered by BCD, including Concur, Cytric and the TMC¡¯s proprietary tool, TripSource.

It is available to BCD customers globally under a reseller agreement, so users do not need to contract with eco.mio or conduct separate security assessments.

A major European company has already implemented the functionality, with the funds collected via the tax being used to invest in alternative aviation fuel.

¡°We are seeing a need for this from many customers,¡± said Lutz Nauert, BCD¡¯ssenior vice president, global program management and strategic accounts. ¡°This is about delivering a carbon fee but also about highlighting emissions in the booking tool and steering travellers towards a better airline or a better aircraft. It¡¯s normalising the visibility of the cost of carbon.¡±

While many companies already set aside funds to invest in sustainability projects, Nauert said it is typically a manual, back-end process conducted monthly or quarterly. ¡°Current processes don¡¯t steer the booker to change their behaviour and make the best choice when booking travel,¡± he said. ¡°A lot of companies are already buying offsets but now we are bringing visibility of the cost of carbon into the OBT.¡±

Eco.mio co-founder and CEO Katharina Riederer said: ¡°Some clients implementing this are saying they will probably buy SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) but others first of all just want to make sure travellers see it [the tax] and how it impacts the overall budget.¡±

Riederer added: ¡°There¡¯s an even bigger scope of behavioural change that we want to enable customers to realise, going beyond the scope that we already have with sustainability nudging and now with carbon taxes and SAF fares. There¡¯s more to come.¡±