T&E analysis of business travel emissions finds those companies with targets achieve the most reductions

Analysis by Brussels-based pressure group Transport & Environment (T&E) has found that emissions from business flying by the pharma sector business dropped 21% in 2023 compared to pre-Covid 2019 levels. This compares to a fall in the business travel emissions of global consultancies by 46% and technology companies by 49% measured over the same period. T&E is leading a campaign, Travel Smart, to reduce corporate air travel emissions by 50% or more from 2019 levels, and says by flying less now, companies can make a big contribution to aviation sustainability. Business travellers make up some 12% of passengers but up to 75% of revenues on certain flights, so their choices have important leverage on the aviation industry, it argues.

“For the critical decade until 2030, the best way to reduce aviation emissions is to fly less, as the timing for scale-up of sustainable fuels and zero-emissions aircraft is currently post-2030, and offsetting has shown to be ineffective,” states T&E on its Travel Smart website.

“Consumers, investors and employees are more concerned by the impacts of climate change then ever before. If businesses fall out of step with expectations, their reputation is at risk. Demonstrating a commitment to sustainability and adopting planet-friendly travel policies will enhance their image, appeal and overall success.”

The latest analysis of 11 of the world’s major pharmaceutical companies could have seen a reduction as large as -44% if the two pharmas flying the most, Johnson & Johnson and Merck, had halved their emissions instead of reducing them by 10% in the case of the former and increasing emissions by 29% in the case of Merck, said T&E.

“Top flyers should be leading by example, not watering down efforts to reduce business flying,” commented Denise Auclair, head of the Travel Smart campaign at T&E. “What we’re seeing in the pharmaceutical sector is an extreme case of large polluters hampering the sector’s progress towards flying less, but we’ve seen that story some other times.”

The NGO believes sustained business flying reductions can only be assured through targets and says just four of the 11 companies analysed had set a business travel target. The four – Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk and Roche – achieved emissions reductions ranging from 44% to 55%.

Its analysis of major global consulting firms found 12 of the 15 companies in its sample had set business travel targets, with Accenture, KPMG and SGS so far failing to do so, although the former had achieved a 71% reduction in 2023 compared to 2019, the highest of all the companies analysed.

“The overall trend is one of reduction in the aftermath of the pandemic where global travel came to a halt, and notably by those who previously were flying the most,” observes T&E. “However, the data shows that consulting companies are slowly creeping back towards pre-Covid levels.”

This trend is also mirrored in the technology sector, where the world’s biggest tech companies have halved their business flying compared with 2019 but those that have not set targets to reduce flying emissions, such as Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Apple, were slowly returning to 2019 levels. On the other hand, India’s tech giant Wipro, a company that set a target of -55% by 2030, increased its reduction to -71%.

“Tech companies have claimed to be climate leaders for a long time and many have substantially reduced their business travel emissions, but if they want to be credible, they must set reduction targets,” said Auclair.

Christopher Surgenor

Editor

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