There is often a long way to go between words and deeds. While major companies are all proclaiming their desire to reduce the carbon footprint of their business travel, the European Federation for Transport and Environment, more commonly known as Transport et Environnement (T&E), is tempering this rhetoric. Bringing together some sixty European organisations committed to a vision of zero-emission mobility, Transport and Environment has established a ranking concerning the business travel of 230 American and European multinationalswith the environmental organisation Stand.earth. Their verdict: they can do much better.
This analysis shows that 193 companies did not act ". with sufficient speed and ambition to reduce emissions from business travel" notes T&E. The ranking is based on nine indicators relating to emissions reduction targets, reporting and air travel emissions. And, as always, this ranking delivers its share of rewards and dunce caps. Out of 230 companies, only eight achieved the maximum score of A. These are all companies that have committed themselves to a clear reduction in air travel, with some aiming for a target of -50 % or more by 2025, and which have also been declaring their emissions linked to business or air travel for more than a year. First, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is ahead of a number of players in the finance and consultancy sector, including Swiss Re, Legal & General, Zurich Insurance Group - which has committed to reducing business travel by 70 % by 2022 - Lloyds Banking, Ernst & Young, and also a French bank, Crédit Agricole.
A total of 21 French companies are included in this ranking, some of which have set themselves clear objectives for reducing their business travel and are rated B, such as Cap Gemini, AXA, BNP Paribas and Dassault Systèmes. However, for the 16 others, T&E considers that they " do not meet enough criteria and are lagging behind in terms of business flight targets or reporting. " While Engie is one of the companies ranked at the bottom of the list, other French groups such as La Française des Jeux, Publicis and Servier are also rated D, the lowest, with the others scattered around the middle of the ranking.
Denise Auclair, head of the business travel campaign at T&E, notes that, ". if certain companies in France show that reducing emissions from commercial air transport is possibleOther companies such as LVMH and Renault are lagging behind. "The commentary notes, however, that Renault, like L'Oréal and Vodafone, have all set company-wide emissions reduction targets, but have not committed to reducing emissions from business travel by air until a certain date.
While French companies are not at the top of this ranking, whether they feel reassured or not, they are not the only ones. Volkswagen and Accenture are also singled out, while Google, Facebook and Microsoft are in the lowest ranking categoryT&E invited them to "accelerate their transition to becoming intelligent travellers" . This, too, is the aim of this analysis by T&E and of its Travel Smart campaign, which has been launched to ask companies to " publicly commit to achieving an absolute target of reducing flights by at least 50 % compared with 2019 levelsby 2025 or sooner" . According to Transport & Environment, reducing business travel by 50 % by 2030 in Europe would be equivalent to 32.6 Mt less CO2 emissions, or the equivalent of taking 16 million polluting cars off the road.
Whereas before the pandemic, business travel accounted for around 15 to 20 % of air transport according to a McKinsey study, i.e. around 154 million MtCO2, T&E is calling on companies to continue along the path of moderation, no longer forced and coerced by travel restrictions, but thoughtfully and voluntarily. " The pandemic has shown that companies can be just as efficient, or even more efficient, by flying less and reducing their emissions at the same time.said Denise Auclair. Travelling intelligentlyMaking every meeting count. While not all business air travel can be avoided, virtual meetings are an effective substitute in many cases. We've been doing it for two years, so why stop now?"
