A drop of -18% in emissions linked to business travel: Transport & Environment (T&E) highlights the following factors progress made by major French companies since 2019. While the think tank recently published its Travel Smart ranking based on 2023 data, the publication of sustainability information from the annual reports of 25 major companies has enabled this new, updated analysis. Overall, two-thirds of these companies have maintained their travel levels at a lower level than before the pandemic.
" This confirms a positive trend, with companies paying greater attention to their business travel-related emissions. But we must remain vigilant. Some have managed to get in the way and reduce them permanently, while others seem to be letting them slip away a little." says Denise Auclair, head of Transport & Environnement's Travel Smart campaign.
Among the good performers, six major companies - a quarter of the panel - have halved their emissions compared to the pre-covid period. Consulting firm Capgemini, for example, has reduced its emissions by 51% compared with 2019, with a further reduction of -7% between 2023 and 2024, "despite having increased its number of employees", notes T&E. However, the prize goes to Atoswith a reduction of 71%, ahead of Sopra Steria (-64%) and Société Générale (-59%). Air Liquide, Capgemini and Dassault Systèmes are behind this top three, all below the 50% waterline. And other big names in the French economy are just above, such as Orange, Amundi, Kering and L'Oréal.
Most of these companies share the same policy: the introduction ofspecific reduction targets emissions from their business trips, between limiting air travel and preferring the train, digital alternatives to travel and the need for prior authorisation for trips abroad.
In the end, of the 25 companies analysed, the 9 with a specific objective were collectively reduce their emissions by 41% between 2019 and 2024The others have reduced their emissions by an average of just 9%. However, of all these companies, some have not reduced their emissions, quite the contrary, with Sanofi (+10% in 2024 compared with 2019), LVMH (+23%), Vinci (+25%) and even more bioMérieux (+33%), SPIE (+38%) or Valeo (+49%) at the bottom of the list.
The latter group is one of those that has not set a specific reduction target, unlike SPIE, for example, which explains in its annual report that the return to normal activity has resulted in a increase in business travel in 2024, particularly in its Global Services Energy business unit "due to the increased rotation of expatriate workers on customer sites".
The Transport & Environnement analysis also shows disparities within the same sector. While Valeo's business travel emissions are up, those of Renault and Forvia are down, by 28% and 25% respectively. The same is true of the finance and luxury goods sectors, with Kering, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole reducing their emissions and BNP Paribas and LVMH increasing theirs.
At the same time, T&E stresses the efforts of the French government having asked its departments and businesses, as part of its Energy Sobriety Plan, to reduce air travel by 20% in 2024 compared with 2019, with a higher target of -30 % by 2027.
