From a sustainability point of view, business travel is a complex issue. It’s important for building relationships, and in many cases, for delivering services, in certain circumstances, travel is a necessity. Nevertheless, organisations should continue to challenge themselves on the need, frequency and mode of travel.

The strategy for reducing travel emissions should involve both reducing the number of journeys taken and looking at less carbon-intensive ways of working.

The focus should be to reduce unnecessary business travel, encouraging both internal and client-facing teams to make better use of technological alternatives like video conferencing, teleconferencing and web meetings. The simplest way to cut emissions caused by travel is to avoid it altogether by making better use of technology to connect to clients and colleagues.

The travel policy should encourage travellers to use internal systems to book travel, ensuring greater control over how they travel.

An approval process which requires people to justify the reason for any internal (non-client facing) flights can be effective. Whilst the approval process doesn’t prevent flying, it helps to challenge people to think about whether they really need to fly.

The obvious benefits are a reduction in travel costs, insurance, taxi fares, parking costs, accommodation and subsistence, but there are also the less tangible costs and issues such as lost working time, safety issues and employee stress.