Choe: At the time, companies couldn’t answer the basic questions, like who spent what, with whom, let alone why they spent it. One of the reasons is that in travel, data is incredibly fragmented. There’s data from the travel management companies and then expense systems, card systems. Travelers can sometimes book directly with a hotel, airline or third-party site. So simple questions — even “How much do we spend?” — were difficult to answer. Once they started getting data, they needed the right tools to help them use it.

Choe: It’s not a coincidence that many of the pledges to get to net zero were made during the pandemic, when there was virtually no corporate travel. It seemed easier to meet some of these goals when the numbers didn’t look as challenging.

Charpin: As Keesup mentioned, it’s complex because it’s fragmented, but also, and very importantly, it’s not yet standardized. However, there’s been significant progress with groups emerging to help establish sustainability standards for the travel industry. For instance, Mastercard recently joined the Travalyst Coalition, which aims to bring consistent sustainability information to the mainstream to help business and leisure travelers make more conscious travel choices. Travalyst has so far focused on scaling sustainability data for aviation and accommodation such as the Travel Impact Model, which since its launch has shown flight emissions estimates to over 65 billion travelers at the point of booking.

While significant progress has been achieved with standardizing flight emission data, the hotel industry is considerably more difficult. There’s not yet a clear consensus that this given hotel has the equivalent of this specific carbon footprint. Rather, an online travel booking platform can use one measurement and a major hotel chain can use another. The push for standardization throughout the entire travel industry is more important than ever.

Choe: Companies really need to shift from passive annual reporting to active management. There’s no way any efficiency measures can be made when you’re measuring something once on an annual basis. More instant feedback motivates people to act.

Charpin: This feedback also enables companies to evolve their T&E policies in real time to meet their sustainability goals faster. Travel decision-makers across businesses also need to assess what trade-offs are permissible so employees travel more sustainably. Maybe it’s tailoring their T&E policy to not permit connecting flights, even if they are less expensive, or buying all electric vehicles for their corporate fleet.

Choe: Education is key. Next is influencing them in the right way. PredictX has a module that identifies behavior that could be improved and automatically sends a little nudge to employees to consider a better option next time. It has to be part of an active strategy, reminding people to choose more sustainable travel as they are making the decision. I expect most people, when they’re reminded, will take the option with a lower environmental impact.

Charpin: You also have to ensure the information is provided in a meaningful manner that employees can easily understand. For instance, saying your flight’s carbon footprint is equivalent to the emissions produced by a household for a year will carry more weight than saying your trip will produce two tons of carbon emissions per passenger. And then you have to go one step beyond that and encourage the employee to make the right decision. I’ve heard of companies, for example, that gamify choices so the “greenest” team of travelers during a given month or quarter is rewarded.

Choe: PredictX finds CO2-saving strategies and then broadcasts them so travel managers can execute. PredictX has a simulation engine that can tell you in advance how much a carbon footprint is going to be for, say, a conference or product launch. It can help you decide if New York or Atlanta is the right place to hold an event. Or maybe there’s a different city that could actually be much lower in terms of CO2. Perhaps your usual venue isn’t using sustainable electricity, so why not use this other hotel that is? It allows you to make all of these choices and analyze them, well before an event, to make sure you are making the right decisions. These sorts of forecasting and predictive tools are what we’re bringing to the market.