Sustainability: How to Measure Corporate Travel’s Impact

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

Travel, and business travel in particular, is directly in the spotlight when it comes to global emissions, climate change, and sustainability impact. Travel suppliers — including all major global airlines and hotel companies such as Accor, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott — have created plans for long-term emissions reductions, but achieving those targets is many years out. In addition, broader net-zero goals for the industry don’t give individual companies a lot of clear guidance and support about what they can do to help.

A new e-book from Uber for Business, “The Road to a Greener Future: Measuring Sustainability Efforts,” outlines several key ways that corporate travel leaders can help chart a path toward measuring their efforts to travel responsibly and sustainably while continuing to reap the indispensable benefits of meetings, events, team gatherings, and more.

Setting and measuring goals to reduce travel’s contributions are easier said than done. For example, some companies have announced carbon taxes and other offsetting measures for corporate travel — but that strategy is not feasible for everyone. Meanwhile, other travel-heavy businesses, like global consulting firms, initially planned to cut back on travel in the post-pandemic workplace, only to find that it’s more necessary for doing business than they thought.

The disconnect between intent and action was laid bare in a recent Uber for Business and Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) study, which found that 84 percent of corporate travel managers said that sustainability is at least “somewhat important” in the design of their company’s travel program. However, only 28 percent are tracking sustainability efforts related to ground transportation.

Furthermore, just 8 percent of U.S. travel managers told GBTA that sustainability was a “most important priority” in 2023, and a study from Transport & Environment found that 85 percent of global companies are “failing to set ambitious targets to reduce corporate travel emissions.”

If organizations want to make meaningful progress, “being transparent and accountable is the first step in moving towards a more sustainable future,” said Andrew Kalinin, global sustainability lead at Uber for Business. “Gaining visibility into one’s own carbon footprint is an excellent starting point. The insights provided by Uber for Business will empower all of our global customers to track their carbon emissions over time.”

Also in this e-book:

• Meaningful goal-setting: Learn why developing science-based targets will be the key to addressing emissions from corporate travel.
• Measuring impact: Understand how tracking carbon-emissions data and receiving relevant updates and reports can help businesses understand their corporate-travel carbon footprint and, ultimately, help them reduce it.
• Accountability and action: Explore strategies to stay accountable and maintain momentum for long-term sustainability impact.

This content was created collaboratively by Uber for Business and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.