The Mobility Travel market still showed gaps in relation to environmental regulations; however, in recent years sustainable and ecological policies have made their impetuous entry into this area too, towards which the companies themselves are demonstrating increasingly more sensitivity. Certainly the Implementation Decree signed by both the Minister of Ecological Transition Cingolani and the Minister of Infrastructure Giovannini has determined a leap forward. With this law, in fact, companies with over 100 employees are required to develop strategies to encourage their staff to find alternative mobility solutions to private vehicles. The objective of the legislation is to decongest city traffic by identifying a specific professional figure, the Mobility Manager, and drawing up a document called PSCL to be presented to the relevant municipality. But in addition to the daily ecological impact produced by the thousands of employees who travel for work every day, the Business Travel sector is also affected by this future scenario.
How ready are companies for sustainable travel?
Research by Alma Travel in collaboration with Travel for business revealed that out of a sample of 350 people, 75% would be willing to choose more sustainable travel solutions. But the fundamental step for this to happen is to understand what the criteria for choosing suppliers are. In fact, in the same study it emerged that the quality of the service or its price are much more relevant in the choice of supplier than the low environmental impact, which however ranks in fourth position after safety.
But would companies be willing to choose suppliers who are more attentive to sustainability if this meant paying more? Well, 82% of the sample declared themselves available but with verified guarantees from the supplier. This is why ESG, Environmental, Social and Governance certification is the ecological assessment that companies should take into consideration when selecting a supplier. But in addition to the lack of a culture of sustainability, for 43% of employees the fear is still linked to the price and for 30% to the absence of incentives. Therefore the ball should pass to the companies that could really spread a green sensitivity, first of all taking a clear position starting from their travel policy. Yet, today 44% of companies still do not have a travel policy with green parameters. In the event that there is a purchasing policy that takes sustainability into account in Business Travel, it is limited to the selection of hotel facilities (35.9%) and only 9.2% concerns the choice of travel agency.
Why have a sustainable Travel Policy
Especially when we talk about the travel sector, sustainability is a necessity and not just a philosophy . Intact, airline flights are responsible for 2.4% of CO2 emissions; therefore, companies must be aware of their impact on the environment also in relation to travel and not just home-work travel.
Therefore, implementing the guidelines for corporate travel, establishing which trips are really necessary and determining the supplier selection criteria are the first steps to take for any company that wishes to convert to a sustainable future. But to make business travel sustainable there are several strategies, questions or choices that can be established as fixed points.
For example, a sustainable choice is to prefer direct flights but avoid short-haul flights: those that generate a greater quantity of CO2 per hour for each passenger. But also prefer certified structures that adopt measures to reduce environmental impact or perhaps choose those suppliers that compensate for the CO2 produced. But not to be underestimated is the incentive for employees who must be educated, involved and motivated towards a sustainable culture. Create a questionnaire to help traveling staff make responsible choices on site too.
Alma Travel is the first agency in Italy certified ESG
We at Alma Travel, active for decades in the Business Travel sector, were one of the first travel management companies certified ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, as well as the first agency in Italy certified ESG with an A+ rating. After all, as a travel agency for many sustainable companies, there could not be a topic dearer to us! Therefore environmental sustainability is "the" mission and we wish to involve the companies that turn to us to embark on a new and more virtuous path. The most relevant strategy for obtaining a green travel policy is to define emission objectives on a periodic basis. But to achieve this, a data collection system based on a CO2 calculator to measure emissions from airline flights, hotel stays or car rentals is essential. We at Alma Travel know how to help our customers.
How do we do it? First of all, we provide reports with the CO2 emissions to be offset on a periodic basis. With the data in hand, we select the suppliers most in line with environmental policies, evaluating for example whether they use energy from renewable sources or whether they provide hybrid or electric vehicles or whether the supplier itself compensates for the CO2 emitted by that service by providing certification. We have also digitized the entire travel process from the request to the final reporting, eliminating the use of paper and reducing the time for expense control by 80%.