As businesses focus more on sustainability in fighting climate change, including eco-friendly practices in business plans and how companies are run becomes important. An answer to the growing need for green travel is travel IT solutions. For travel program managers, this is an opportunity to ensure that travel policies align with the company’s sustainability goals. Right now is the perfect time to look at and improve travel rules to match the need for a greener future while still making sure travel helps the business grow.
Since many companies use technology more, this blog will discuss how travel IT solutions can help make travel more sustainable.
Importance of Sustainable Corporate Travel
Sustainable travel, also called eco-travel, means traveling responsibly to minimize harm to the environment and honor local cultures. Businesses depend a lot on travel for their work.
But this travel, especially flights, can harm the environment a lot. Flights alone can cause about 80% or more of the pollution from office-based businesses. So, it’s crucial for both companies and travelers to think about how they can travel in a more eco-friendly way.
As a business traveler, you can travel sustainably by doing the following things:
- Limiting paper consumption
- Eating locally-made food
- Using public transport
- Staying in places that promote sustainability
- Choosing direct flights
- Conserving energy
and more.
Suggested Read: Top 10 Sustainability Terms in Corporate Travel
How Travel IT Solutions Support Sustainability
Travel solutions help centralize various aspects of trip planning for better management. Businesses use these solutions to make corporate travel management more efficient. One example of travel IT solutions that various businesses use is travel management software (TMS).
Corporate travel managers use TMS to oversee and coordinate business travel activities. It includes booking, policy compliance, and other aspects of business travel. Examples include itilite and SAP Concur.
Corporate travel technology helps optimize travel plans to reduce a company’s carbon footprint. TMS usually has inbuilt features to calculate a company’s carbon emissions so that action can be taken to reduce them.
There are other various methods in which travel IT solutions promote sustainability. These include:
1. Resource Management
Travel IT platforms allows you access to a wide range of travel options. It includes flights, hotels, rental cars, and alternative accommodations. This flexibility allows you to choose the most sustainable travel options based on cost, time, and environmental impact.
2. Reduced Need for Paper
Travel IT solutions streamline corporate travel by allowing electronic booking of flights, hotels, rental cars, and other services. Instead of printing physical tickets or itineraries, travelers receive confirmations via email or apps. This helps reduce waste and support conservation efforts.
Further, digitizing travel processes helps companies keep accurate travel records. Instead of storing paper documents in cabinets, corporate travel technology can save electronic records in a cloud database. This makes it easier to follow rules and reduces the environmental impact of using paper.
Travel and expense solutions also prevent the submission of physical expense reports. For convenience and sustainability, you can scan receipts via app and upload them with the online expense report.
3. Optimized Itineraries
Corporate travel technology also helps in better planning business trips. It allows you to consolidate many trips into single travel itineraries if possible, reducing the number of flights and hotel stays needed, reducing emissions and consumption.
4. Carbon Emission Tracking
Travel IT solutions collect information from flight bookings, hotel stays, and railways. This data includes where they start and end their trips, how far they go, how they travel, and how much fuel they use. Using the data, the platform calculates carbon emissions related to each travel activity.
Once businesses are aware of their carbon footprint, they take proper action to reduce it. It can include partnering with eco-conscious suppliers, taking more direct flights, and carpooling. Companies also create new policies or modify old ones so that employees are inclined to choose sustainable options.
5. Green Travel Policy
A travel technology company can create rules for employees to follow to maintain their sustainability goals. Green practices can be the building blocks for these policies. For instance, companies can restrict business travel for meetings that can be done remotely. They can also block air travel for certain routes that are accessible via rail.
Furthermore, companies can also create a leadership board online to reward employees who travel sustainably.
6. Promotion of Eco-Friendly Hotels
Many travel IT solutions mark eco-friendly stays with green badges. This encourages employees to choose them when they make bookings on the platform. These features often include filters for eco-certifications like Green Key. These certificates serve as recognized indicators of a hotel’s commitment to environmental responsibility.
Additionally, practices such as energy-efficient lighting or waste reduction initiatives are highlighted. This helps the environment and encourages companies to care more about their impact. Also, by promoting eco-friendly places to stay, travel software makes more hotels want to be green too. This drives positive change across the whole travel ecosystem.
What Else Can a Travel Technology Company do to Drive Sustainability?
Carbon offsetting programs are when companies pay for projects that help balance out the carbon dioxide they produce. These projects can include planting trees, making renewable energy, or capturing methane gas.
You can join international carbon markets to buy credits from projects that reduce CO2 emissions. These projects are usually in developing countries and work to cut emissions or capture carbon.
By buying these credits, companies can balance out their own emissions.
itilite invests in The Gold Standard, a trusted certification for these projects. It’s known for being reliable and respected in the field of carbon offsetting.
Use itilite Travel Technology Company for Green Travel
itilite offers customized reports to help you monitor your carbon emissions and take responsibility for your environmental impact. These reports give detailed insights into how much carbon dioxide your business travels produces. It empowers you to make decisions about reducing your carbon footprint.
Additionally, itilite encourages your employees to choose eco-friendly hotels when booking. This not only helps reduce the environmental impact of your travel but also fosters a culture of sustainability within your organization.
To know more about the benefits, book a free demo today.
