On 13 September, Advito, BCD Travel's consultancy subsidiary, received the Ecomobility Award organised by the SNCF in the Business Agency category. A well-deserved award, since Advito has developed a specific tool to help companies to reduce their carbon emissions in business travel. " The aim is to help customers travel better" says David Frangeul, Multimodal Manager at Advito. The principle is to "travel less and to use videoconferencing whenever possible. Only necessary and useful travel is encouraged, and employees who travel are encouraged to choose eco-responsible suppliers.
A trade-off between price and CO2
To help reduce carbon emissions, the tool examines four elements of business travel in minute detail: air, rail, car hire and accommodation (hotels, tourist residences, bed and breakfasts, etc.). A diagnosis of company emissions is carried out as a preamble to defining the areas for improvement. " Air transport accounted for 80% to 90% of CO2 for companies until 2019. Covid and travel constraints following the pandemic have prompted many companies to opt for high-speed rail, as a way of improving their carbon footprint." he stresses. When it comes to aircraft, the choice of flight - direct or indirect - and the type of aircraft are also important factors, with the latest aircraft consuming less energy and fuel. " The big question, with the resumption of intercontinental travel, will be to see whether companies will favour non-stop flights, which are better for the carbon footprint, or flights with connections, which are sometimes 30% to 40% cheaper, like those operated by the Gulf carriers." observes David Frangeul. And he adds: " Trade-offs will have to be made. Improving your carbon footprint does not always mean saving money..." . In his opinion, only " a cost per tonne of carbon emitted integrated into the overall cost of the journey would offset the price effect" .
Favour trains over planes
As far as trains are concerned, their energy source is studied according to the country in which the employee travels, with a better ratio for electricity produced by nuclear power stations, as in France, less good if coal-fired power stations are used as in Germany. For car hire, the improvement in the carbon footprint will come from the company's use of small models, powered by electric. Lastly, the classification of establishments (Clé Verte, European Ecolabel, Green Globe, etc.) and buildings (HQE, ISO, etc.) will be taken into account in order to issue recommendations for business travellerss for accommodation. Sites involved in environmental initiatives (saving water and energy, sorting and recycling waste, short supply chains for catering, etc.) are clearly given priority.
This principle has recently been applied to MICE, which now has its own Iso-certified calculator. Organisers can use it to enter participants' travel detailsemissions, the hotels used to calculate CO2 that these establishments can offer depending on their facilities and services, with a swimming pool, for example, adding to the price, as does the presence of multiple restaurants.
