Business Travel is Going Green

Business travel is evolving in many ways. New forms of lodging are opening up, and allowing travelers to use an alternative to the hotels. Automated expense reporting is now available, allowing many to report their costs in a far more convenient manner. And now, according to a recent report in the New York Times, business trips are being recalibrated so that they can be considered "green."

For one thing, many businesses are trying to limit the number of business trips they finance in the first place, to keep the overall costs on company expense reports as low as possible. Many are doing so via digital meetings, held through platforms such as Skype. However, Joel Makower, founder and executive editor of a green-focused media company, noted that even he understands business trips are often preferable to videoconferencing or email.

"The greenest business trip is the one you don't take," Makower told the Times. "Most companies understand that. But it's hard to pull off. Despite the great technology advances, there's still no substitute for face to face and sharing a meal and a handshake."

Indeed - there's no substitute for the benefits that can be offered by a successful business trip. Another recent New York Times report illustrated that many businesses already know that: citing information provided by the Global Business Travel Association, that report noted that business travel spending will increase by more than 7 percent in the U.S. during this year alone. The firm projected that increase will have business travel spending at $293 billion, annually.

Businesses may need to be more conscious of their "footprint" in the future Makower continued to explain the need for green business travel to the news outlet, noting that many businesses already understand that "environmental responsibility is part of how you do business" nowadays.

A Global Business Travel Association study found that more than half of all companies polled currently pay "more attention to their green business travel efforts" than they had in the past, according to Joseph Bates, vice president of research at the company. Being green is so important that it may become an important part of the recruitment process: The report noted that many prospective employees and applicants now inquire about whether or not their potential employer has a "green" strategy. One industry expert told the news outlet that many applicants will now report that they are more likely to accept a job with the company if that company has a way of reducing its carbon footprint, such as by offsetting the environmental damage caused by air travel with donations.

"We are seeing it as a selling point all over at recruiting events," Elizabeth Barry, chief sustainability officer at Marsh and McLennan, told the New York Times. "Hiring managers tell us the prospective employees are even willing to take a little pay cut to work for a company with those types of programs."