When Business Travel Pioneers get together
What a pleasure it was to get together again with the Business Travel Pioneers! The leaders in sustainable business travel were yet again able to update each other on the sustainability of their organizations' travel policies. Meanwhile, the group also had some new participants. Let’s look back on the meeting.
It is clear that a lot is happening regarding sustainable business travel. Several organizations such as Sweco and De Munt updated their travel policies and made them a lot more ambitious. Others, like VUB, Université de Liège and Nespresso, plan to do so in the near future. Still others like ITG are in the process of implementing their new travel policies. In the implementation process, the organizations have encountered several obstacles, such as the higher price of a sustainable travel policy, the so-called “academic freedom” to travel and the increased travel time to certain destinations.
As an example, Port of Antwerp-Bruges renewed its travel policy last year, taking inspiration from other Business Travel Pioneers. Here are a few interesting elements: they are strongly committed to the use of train, by making this the obligatory mode of transport for destinations that can be reached within 5 hours by train and by offering first class for trips lasting 2 hours or more. If air travel is required, economy class is the default. Only for longer flights can premium economy (from 5h) or business class (from 7h) be used. The company also gives priority to direct flights and encourages combining as many meetings and events as possible in one trip. Finally, the policy broadens sustainable travel by also looking at the sustainability of the hotels chosen (through Greenkey) and by providing sustainable transfers to and from the airport (by carpooling, train or electric cabs).
The University of Leuven has also tightened its travel policy. They want to reduce international travel by banning travel for 1-on-1 meetings and meetings shorter than 4 hours. Trips shorter than 8 hours are done by train. The organization also worked out an ambitious strategy and calculation method for “offsetting” their flights.
As the final part of the meeting, our partner Anthesis Belgium shared some of the trends they observe in business travel. Guess what? Business travel is back! There are more face-to-face meetings again and there is a growth in MICE (meetings/incentives/conferences/exhibitions). On the other hand, there is also a growing focus on sustainable travel. Anthesis sees more sustainable travel policies in companies and more data that can support these policies.
The organizers are pleased with the results and the quality of the exchange. The participants went home with extra inspiration and encouragement to continue working on sustainable travel policy in their organizations. Would you like to work on this too or would you like to know more about the Business Travel Pioneers? Please contact us via info@businesstravelpioneers.be
