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Portman urges ‘ecosmart’ business travel
More than three quarters of employees are not prepared to make a personal contribution to help the environment, according to a poll from Portman Travel.
The survey for the travel management company also found that UK business travellers generate 5.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions which would cost £65 million to offset.
The YouGov poll of almost 1,300 UK adults in full time employment found that 66% believe that businesses should minimise climate change impacts of business travel but 77% of employees are not prepared to sacrifice their own benefits to aid the environment.
The poll found that only 7% of staff believes that climate change is extremely important for company bosses, compared with company reputation and profits which scored 62% and 58% respectively.
More than a third of employees (36%) believe their employers show no or little commitment towards the environment and 59% think businesses should donate a higher proportion of their profits to protecting the environment. Only 2% think businesses should contribute less to environmental causes.
The travel management company is to establish a scheme called Portman Forest to offer businesses and employees the opportunity to combat greenhouse gases caused by their business travel.
The TMC has linked up with The CarbonNeutral Company to enable travellers to offset emissions by supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable forestry projects.
Portman managing director Graham Flack said: “It is important that responsible organisations within our industry look at ways of reducing greenhouse gases caused by their operations. Our customers travelled nearly 900 million kilometres by air last year. This gives Portman a unique opportunity to help them become ‘ecosmart’ by reducing their environmental footprint.
“Our research shows that employees demand bold action to protect the environment and that they are expecting their employers to lead the way. This places a huge responsibility on businesses to take visible action. the Portman Forest is an easy and practical way for businesses to demonstrate that they take corporate social responsibility seriously.”
Report by Phil Davies
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