Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) has agreed to make its Global Education Conference low carbon next month. It will make it the business travel industry”s first low carbon convention.
Over a thousand delegates are expected to attend the conference, being held in Barcelona from October 22-24. British Airways has agreed to pay a cost towards carbon emissions produced as a result of delegates making their way to and from the conference.
The airline will then fund a renewable energy project in developing countries. ACTE is encouraging all delegates to use low-emission transport from the airport to the conference centre and is requesting them to walk to and from the lectures they attend.
ACTE commended its travel partners at the event saying: ”British Airways is committed to limiting the impact of its operations on global warming wherever possible. It is currently the only global airline that enables its customers to offset their flight emissions.
”The conference hotels, AC Barcelona, Barcelona Princess and Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona have been specifically selected by ACTE due to their commitment to environmentally friendly business operations.”
Conference sessions will have a strong environmental theme. A session on green tendering methods for travel managers will be led by IG Management managing director Bernard Harrop and will include contributions from Carbon Neutral company spokesperson Jon Price and Hilton International director of environmental sustainability Jan Peter Bergkvist.
Other speakers include European Commission directorate-general for energy and transport Daniel Calleja y Crespo and David Rabey from the UK”s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Rabey will describe how the UK Government procurement policy is embracing the concept of sustainable development.
ACTE is teaming with Carbon Neutral and the Climate Trust to offer tools and programmes to measure and reduce carbon emissions.