Interestingly, the AirPlus survey, which primarily focused on green travel/CSR efforts in the United States, also revealed that more than 30 percent of corporations had no green or CSR efforts in place and had no plans to implement such efforts. (For an interesting contrast of U.S. versus European companies when it comes to green initiatives and CSR, visit the link to the ACTE survey in the “Additional Resources” section.) More than 12 percent of companies seem to be spinning their use of travel alternatives and demand management initiatives with a message of environmental awareness.

Despite the downward trend in green travel/CSR efforts in the immediate future, other indicators show that environmental and social responsibility may play a pivotal role as corporations continue to court loyalty both in the marketplace and from their employees.  Nearly 57 percent of respondents said they believed that sound green/CSR policies could increase brand loyalty and/or employee good will—in other words, promoting such policies could help corporations grow their businesses.

Additional Resources:
AirPlus…The Wire April 2009 (PDF)

Video:
YouTube Video

‘Green’ has finally made it onto the winner’s podium. Environmental considerations belong to the top three most important trends in travel management, next to meeting and convention management. In the current AirPlus International Travel Management Study 1,500 travel managers from Europe, the USA, Mexico and Brazil, South Africa as well as China, Singapore and Australia were asked if climate protection measures are increasingly being taken into account by their companies. The result: more than 70% answered positively (53% agreed completely, 18% with some reservations). Countries such as Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, Australia, England, Mexico and above all Brazil showed a much greater interest in respecting the environment in their business practices than did, for example, Austria, Germany or the United States.

One out of every two Brazilian companies donates money to climate change organizations, and even in Mexico it is one out of three. Only three out of every hundred respondents in Mexico and Spain admit to having no environmental aspects to their plans. And England had the most environmental programs or plans out of all the respondents from Europe. In comparison, only 7% of companies from the United States and 8% of those from Germany voluntarily donate money to fight climate change. And half of all Austrian firms refuse to take environmental concerns into account in their businesses. Those were the worst results from all 15 companies participating in the survey.

On average, only a few companies consistently use voluntary carbon offsets to balance out their travel. Only around 15% pay to offset carbon dioxide emissions, and another 7% plan to introduce such measures in the coming year. Over 60% of the respondents oppose such measures.

(WMV-Video, 9.7 MB)

Christiansen and Fürer discussed the importance of environmental commitment in the business travel sector and how companies are ‘putting their money where their mouth is’ in the current crisis. In her CNBC program “Global Players”, which was broadcast throughout the world in December 2008, the TV journalist asked the head of AirPlus Germany to explain why many companies ‘think’ green – but can’t ‘act’ green with all consequence yet.

Join the discussion! Why is the business travel sector still hesitating when it comes to environmental commitment? Are your business trips already ‘green’?