Companies whose travel policy does not take into account the well being of their employees are running a risk, Bernard Harrop said at the Business Travel Market in London today (June 17).
Harrop, the new head of sustainability at the UK and Ireland Institute of Travel and Meetings (ITM), said employee well being, duty of care and health and safety issues were going to have a greater impact in the years ahead.
He was speaking at a session which looked into how the recession had affected the attitude of companies and travellers to climate change.
Harrop said taking into account the environmental effect of travel was not about stopping people moving about or going on holiday, but of getting the balance right.
He said there were four aspects to take into account when planning a trip or which way to travel: the total time of the trip, the cost, the carbon footprint and the risk.
If a company had its Edinburgh office next to the airport and its London office near Heathrow, a plane was the best option. A green policy is "no good if it impacts parts of the company in a negative way," Harrop said.
But he said it was no longer a case of the old formula of price versus quality, it was now price versus quality and responsibility.
Emma Harris, sales and marketing director for Eurostar, said the high speed rail operator saw a green policy as a cost saving.
"If you are efficient, you are sourcing well, using well and wasting well which should result in a reduction to the bottom line," she said.
Harris said that travellers were now "more focused on making savings and looking after themselves and their family and this is only going to increase."
Jonathan Green of JMP Associates, said there were four good reasons why the impact of travel on the environment should be taken into account.
These were regulation, data, traveller concern and client concern.
He said the UK was already committed by law to cuts its carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. It was also likely that firms would soon be required to submit an annual carbon report as well as their financial report.
Data would help firms understand what they were doing and how to manage their carbon emissions.
A recent survey by the UK Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC) said that 71% of travellers regarded the environment as an important issue while more companies were asking firms they worked with what their carbon footprint was, Green told the session.
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