Only around one-fifth of UK organisations are including detailed carbon emissions data on the accommodation used by their travellers, according to a survey by travel management platform Roomex.
A survey of around 500 decision-makers and 500 business travellers in the UK found that only 18 per cent of companies were including detailed accommodation emissions data within their carbon and wider ESG reporting.
Roomex said this showed that accommodation “remains a significant blind spot” for corporates when reporting their carbon footprint from business travel.
The poll found that 42 per cent of business decision-makers did not include accommodation within their carbon reporting systems. This was despite the majority (59 per cent) of respondents expecting carbon reporting to play a “bigger role” in the choice of accommodation over the next five years.
Roomex’s Accommodation Visibility Gap report revealed that 38 per cent of decision-makers had “limited, very little or no visibility” on the carbon emissions from accommodation being booked by their travellers.
Where carbon data does exist, the report identified a “disconnect” between emissions data often only being recorded post-stay rather than being available when the accommodation is being booked.
Roomex’s president Keith Watson said that not including accommodation within carbon reporting made it “much harder to understand its impact or make informed decisions about how people travel”.
“For businesses with mobile workforces, travel cannot always be avoided,” added Watson. “The opportunity is to understand where accommodation emissions are coming from, identify recurring patterns and use that information to make future stays more efficient.
“Carbon reporting becomes much more valuable when it informs decisions before a booking is made, rather than simply recording emissions after the event.”