Around 50 per cent of major global companies have halved the number of business flights taken by their travellers since the pandemic, according to research from the Travel Smart campaign.
Travel Smart, which is a global campaign led by Transport & Environment (T&E) aimed at reducing corporate air travel emissions, said that its research showed that 104 of the 217 corporates analysed had reduced their business flights by at least 50 per cent in 2022 compared with 2019.
The report said that technology firm SAP (down 86 per cent), pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (-78 per cent) and consulting group PWC (-76 per cent) were among the companies to have the highest drops in flights when comparing 2019 with 2022.
However, some companies were “edging very close” to 2019 levels of flights last year, with 21 corporates flying more than they did pre-Covid.
Travel Smart said that emissions from business travel declined by 51 per cent between 2019 and 2022 when looking at the data of the 217 corporates with the highest levels of flights.
Denise Auclair, Travel Smart’s campaign manager, said it was a “positive picture” that many companies had not so far returned to 2019’s levels of flying.
“Lessons from the pandemic have been learnt: the way forward is collaboration with more online meetings, more travel by train and less by plane,” she added.
“But it’s dismaying to see still too many companies returning to excessive flying for business with so little concern for the planet. The start of 2024 is the perfect time for new corporate resolutions to put the old, high-flying days behind us.”
Travel Smart pointed out that 171 of the 217 companies analysed in the report did not currently have targets to reduce emissions from their business travel.
The group urged these corporates to put in place their own reduction targets or “increase the ambition and advance the timeline” of existing goals. It is also recommending that global firms report the full climate impact of their emissions from business flights, as well as setting annual “travel climate budgets” to help promote virtual meetings and rail journeys ahead of air travel.
The campaign is calling for a 50 per cent reduction in overall business travel during the current decade to make it possible for aviation to be compatible with the “pathway” to restrict global climate change to an increase of 1.5C.