Did you know that in 2022/23 over 90% of our business travel emissions were due to flights?
Staff and postgraduate research students are strongly urged to consider their business travel options in a renewed campaign to reduce emissions as part of our Sustainability Strategic Plan.
Reducing our business travel emissions
We can all reduce our business travel emissions by making sure we ask ourselves to:
- Avoid – do you really need to travel? Can you achieve the aim without travel?
- Reduce – do you need to go as often/far/can you combine trips?
- Take low emissions options – if travel is unavoidable; can you take options which minimise emissions?
For example, the Clarity travel booking tool helps you to consider lower emissions options by highlighting rail alternatives where available (see screenshot) and providing comparative emissions information for different travel routes. (Click on image to enlarge).
In general, the biggest savings are made by not flying, as this infographic produced by the Sustainability and Implementation Group (SIG) clearly shows. (Click on the images to enlarge).
The graphic compares different ways of ‘attending’ a UK-based meeting and an international conference. The relative scale of emissions from flights compared to videoconferencing is stark. As the SIG 2021 report on low emissions business travel options concluded:
“The carbon cost of the internet appears negligible compared to nearly all non-local business travel. There is therefore a strong argument for ‘virtual’ participation by default, especially for destinations outside Europe where air travel is largely the only practical solution.”
Why do we need to reduce our travel related emissions?
The Sustainability Strategic Plan consists of six goals which lay out an ambitious vision for a more sustainable University and what we need to achieve to get there.
In 2018-19 emissions from business travel accounted for over 8 kT CO2e (6%) of the University’s total Scope 3 emissions. Goal 3 is about how we reduce these emissions and become a sector leader on more sustainable approaches to business travel. Business Travel is also now a reportable KPI within our updated UoS Travel Plan.
Analysis of travel system data provided by Clarity (our travel management partner) shows that while business travel emissions fell to near zero in 2020-21, they are starting to rebound to pre-COVID levels as research, fieldwork, business and especially conference trips ‘recover’ (see Figure below and click to enlarge). In 2022/23, emissions from business travel were ~6kT CO2e with over 90% due to flights.
Professor Jane Falkingham, Vice-President Engagement and International and Sustainability Champion for Goal 3, says:
“It’s a great shame but perhaps not surprising that business travel emissions are starting to climb to pre-COVID levels, but we can do something about this.”
“We’re not saying don’t fly at all, because in some situations it will be important to make that journey. What we are saying is please think hard about your options. We now have good technology in place to have meetings without the need for travel and the pandemic proved that we could do that. There is therefore a strong argument for ‘virtual’ participation by default, especially for destinations outside Europe where air travel is largely the only practical solution.”
Further information:
- You can find other examples of low emissions options in Section 6 of the SIG’s 2022 business travel emissions trends report and you can use the Travel Better Package to think through options and priorities.
- The University’s Travel Plan for 2023/24 was published in December 2022 and incorporates KPIs for business travel. The next Travel Plan update will include a comparison of business travel emissions as a reportable measure of our performance.
- In the meantime, for further information please see Goal 3 SharePoint page.