Carbon comes first

Zurich Insurance isn’t alone in implementing carbon budgets to help manage business travel’s impact on the environment, but its approach stands out: emissions are prioritised over cost, some employee bonuses are linked to sustainability targets, and employee buy-in was such that the development of a ‘carbon transfer tool’ was necessary to ensure CO2 is allocated to the correct business function.

The company has been carbon neutral since 2014 and is committed to becoming net zero in its operations by 2030, but with business travel accounting for some 27 per cent of the company’s overall CO2 emissions, it was acutely aware of its programme’s impact on the environment and in 2023 sharpened its focus on travel.

Following the appointment of a chief sustainability officer, the decision was taken to roll-out carbon budgets across the company – which were cascaded down to countries, business units and functions – and to set specific CO2 reduction targets for travel. 

“We work closely with the sustainability team to agree the topline level of CO2 to be provided globally across the organisation each year, and then we are able to utilise past data and insights to divide and appropriately allocate CO2 budgets for EMEA, then for individual countries and for group functions,” the company’s then global head of travel operations told BTN Europe in May. “Sustainability plays such a big role at our strategic level. It is embedded in the company culture and everyone understands their responsibility.”

At the same time, the company tightened its approvals process, requiring anyone booking flights to submit details on proposed trips, including the estimated carbon impact, as well as a clear business justification. A traveller determines the likely carbon emissions of a potential trip using a calculator developed inhouse that factors in the route and class of travel. For domestic or short-haul flights, trip approval sits with the head of the business function; intercontinental or business class flights – “the ones that hit the carbon budget the hardest” – must be approved by a member of the executive committee.

“The first thing the approver does is go to the CO2 dashboard to see how much of the budget has already been used and how much is left, as well as how many times that person has already travelled to that destination in a certain period, and the approval is based on that,” the travel manager explained.

The company’s CO2 dashboard, a Power BI app, was built inhouse and takes a data feed from Zurich’s travel management company, Egencia, that enables approvers to see the emissions of both flown and booked air travel.

Complementing the new processes were changes to travel policy, comprehensive traveller engagement and communications, and the decision to make a portion of some employees’ bonuses contingent upon their function not exceeding its CO2 budget.

Business leaders also receive monthly reports from the dashboard and travellers receive quarterly emails from Egencia reviewing their travel activity, tailored for Zurich by the TMC to emphasise individuals’ environmental impact.

REAPING THE REWARDS

The upshot was a distinct change in attitudes to travel, and crucially has seen Zurich achieve its air travel emissions reduction target, of 65 per cent versus 2019, in both 2023 and 2024.

“It has really changed the behaviour of our employees. We all have to think twice before booking a ticket or getting on a plane,” said the travel manager. “CO2 is now the main decision-making element before anyone is allowed to book a trip. Some people are flying in a lower class, some are opting for virtual meetings instead, and we are seeing many people combine multiple trips into one.” There has also been a 30 per cent increase in the volume of virtual meetings.

Claire Bryant, global account manager at Egencia, adds: “Zurich’s travellers are so conscious of their CO2 emissions that if someone needs to cancel a flight for whatever reason, they really make sure those emissions are added back into the pot because they don’t want it against their name if they haven’t travelled.”

For Zurich, the level of buy-in also meant travellers wanted to ensure their emissions were allocated to the correct department if, for example, they were travelling on behalf of another unit. It quickly became apparent that the company needed the means to reallocate carbon emissions. Initially, an excel spreadsheet for occasional exceptions was used but “then because people are so conscious of their emissions we needed to automate it.”

Thus Zurich’s ‘CO2 Transfer Tool’, another Power BI app, was launched at the beginning of 2025. Travellers can submit a request to reallocate the emissions associated with a trip from one business function to another, and the receiving function can accept or reject the transfer.

While the company’s key KPI for business travel emissions is air travel, it also closely monitors how many travellers are staying at the sustainable hotels it flags in Egencia (bookings of which are up 25 per cent) and how many travellers are choosing rail travel over air when it’s feasible. Zurich also monitors leakage, primarily by mapping expense reports against agency data, and brings that spend and associated CO2 emissions back into the fold.

Meanwhile, group travel policy was refreshed in May 2024. It was previously a guidance document strengthened by local policies, “but now we have swapped them over and have a group policy that sets the tone and then local guidance,” said the company’s travel manager.

Zurich’s group travel policy recommends travellers take the train if it’s possible, but that guidance is complemented by local policies – in Spain, for example, if there’s a rail alternative to air of under four hours then employees must travel by train.

That modal shift is supported by Egencia functionality that displays rail alternatives to air in the booking tool and pop-up messaging advising users how much CO2 they could save by taking the train. Those efforts have been rewarded with a 15 per cent uptick in rail adoption.

Underpinning Zurich’s processes is a company ‘Sustainability Academy’ that includes a module on business travel, a sustainability Sharepoint site, internal marketing and communication campaigns to travellers, and travellers in each country who act as ambassadors.

The company also sets aside between 5 and 8 per cent of its overall CO2 emissions budget as a contingency. “It can be used for special projects or where there’s an acquisition that wasn’t accounted for, for example. Those who need it can withdraw funds from it but they have to submit a strong business case,” explained the travel manager.

SETTLING DOWN

Has there been any pushback over the last couple of years as new processes and policies were rolled out? “There was some noise when budgets were first rolled-out from people who weren’t sure it would be enough and how they would need to prioritise it,” said the travel manager. “And there were some challenges getting people used to using the tools. But everyone knows they have to request approval now and they diligently do that – that wasn’t always the case.”

While carbon budgets take precedence, there is keen interest in whether travelling more sustainably is more expensive, as some believe. “We’ve not really had to look at that yet. There are financial budgets in the background but we haven’t been challenged on whether our sustainability efforts are costing more. CO2 is the important element.”

Egencia’s Bryant says the TMC has not seen a huge number of clients allocate CO2 budgets and calls Zurich a “flagship client in sustainability”. She adds: “Zurich is a company that we like to float sustainability ideas with. We use them for pilots and get feedback on new ideas, but equally we also utilise their expertise to share with other clients.”

Zurich Insurance was recognised for its efforts by taking home Business Travel News’ Travel Programme of the Year award at 2025’s Business Travel Sustainability Awards.

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