Clean Business Travel

Make business travel climate neutral

An initiative project supported by the Nordrhein-Westfälische Stiftung für Umwelt und Entwicklung, conducted by Germanwatch, European Business Council for Sustainable Energy (e5) and ECC Kohtes Klewes.

What is it about?

Because it lies outside of the operational environmental management systems, environmentally conscious companies have not been able to directly influence business related air travel conducted by their employees. This proactive project wants to provide companies with a pragmatic concept to take over responsibility for the climate also in this area. By doing so, they proactively prepare for probable political regulation. Its first step concerns establishing a pilot and a co-operation project for North-Rhine-Westphalian companies that will radiate throughout all of Germany.

Air traffic is important in guaranteeing the competitiveness of the economy. At the same time, its greenhouse gas emissions contribute considerably to climate change. As it is difficult to allocate emissions from air travel to individual states, they have not been considered in the existing regulations on climate protection (e.g. the Kyoto Protocol). Even the development of alternative fuels bears hardly any potential in reducing the effect of aviation on the climate.

At the moment, the Federal Government of Germany and the European Union are working, through means of legislation, to close this gap in the international climate protection laws. Thus, companies today are in the position to either wait for these regulations (simply having to accept them, once they are there) or be proactive and have a say in shaping this legislation, e.g. to take credit for their early actions later on. This project wants to highlight such achievements and discuss them. Thus, the active participation of companies will be important.

The Approach

In accordance with international regulations and conceptual approaches, which have in particular been developed by NGOs, this project is meant to discuss pragmatic and applicable possibilities of dealing with climate risks deriving from air travel.

The first step is to find and collaborate with as many companies from North Rhine-Westphalia as possible, that are aware of the environmental impact of their own business air travel. In the beginning, a questionnaire is to acquire the current status quo of business air travel by North Rhine-Westphalian companies. Answers to be found are,

which economic and ecological potential there is for substituting air travel by telecommunication;
which economic and ecological potential there is for changing business travel over from planes to other means of transport, especially trains;
how the emissions of unavoidable air travel can be offset through climate protection projects.

Efficiency and form of such possibilities are to be discussed with companies in two workshops (May 8th, 2003 and February 10th, 2004).

Climate neutral aviation through offsetting in climate protection projects – an overview:

Companies are provided an instrument to make their business travel climate neutral.
Companies can integrate a sustainability factor, which thus far has hardly been accessible to operational environmental management.
At the same time, companies come up with means, that they are probably able to take credit for, when foreseeable political measures will be taken.
The offsetting projects support climate protection in a credible and measurable way.
The innovative approach has considerable potential of being used for image purposes by the participating companies and can be presented as a concrete commitment in the environment and sustainability reports.

>> Project Website (in German) and contact addresses

last updated 5 March 2004