KEY POINTS:
It may not have affected you yet, but chances are your company will be monitoring your air travel more closely in the coming months as it becomes a corporate responsibility for organisations to reduce their carbon footprint.
According to the Global Volunteer Network, air travel has been shown to be an environmentally unfriendly form of travel - a long-haul flight typically generates four tonnes of carbon dioxide per passenger. Environmental champion Al Gore has even been called up on the amount of air miles it takes to promote his cause.
The Stern Review - a hard hitting report conducted by former World Bank economist Sir Nicholas Stern for the British Government, noted that air travel contributes only 1.6 per cent of total carbon emissions, but a tripling of jet traffic over the next four decades will offset any fuel efficiencies and result in a 2.5 per cent total.
Although there have been plenty of dire warnings about global warming before, Stern's findings have made a splash within the world business community because he is regarded as "one of them".
Following the report, suggestions have come forward for new ways of thinking about business travel.
The general message is that if you make a trip to anywhere - from Bangkok to Invercargill - it pays to set up a number of meetings so you don't have to make a return trip any time soon.
A one-meeting trip will be frowned upon by responsible companies, says Mark Roberts, programme manager of the Business Sustainability Network's initiative Greenfleet.
"It is very easy to think of going to Wellington as a bus journey. Sometimes people will go down to Wellington two days in a row," he says.
Roberts is delaying a meeting with a Palmerston North colleague until he can organise a few more get-togethers in Auckland.
And it's not just worthy organisations like BSN that are thinking ahead.
Roberts says larger companies such as IAG, Vodafone and Toyota NZ are becoming more conscious of reducing their carbon footprint.
Toyota NZ's Palmerston North environmental officer, Tristan Lavender, spends his days making the staff in his company feel more responsible for its environmental impact.
"We very strongly encourage everyone, if flying, to question whether they really need to go and, if they are going, that they rationalise the number of people going from the department.
"Where possible, if they are going to Auckland, rather than flying up one week and the next week, we encourage them to bring meetings forward," Lavender says.
If this means staying a night in Auckland, the company is happy to pay for that rather than be responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions.
As another alternative to flying, staff are encouraged to video conference or teleconference where viable.
Toyota has wisely linked environmental considerations with the company's bonus scheme.
The staff all have targets to reduce CO2 emissions, through simple tasks such as turning off lights and computers to thinking hard before taking business flights.
If staff members don't reach the target, they don't get their bonus.
Regular updates are given on CO2 targets at staff meetings, so that it remains "at the front of people's minds", says Lavender.
Through its GreenFleet initiative, the Business Sustainability Network is trying to encourage companies to offset their car and air travel by investing in planting trees.
Proactive companies are inviting their customers to join in the initiative.
Car fleet company LeasePlan - one of the sponsors of GreenFleet - offers an option to its customers to offset the emissions caused by their car journeys.
The company and some of its customers are investing in community forest projects around the country, including Oakley Creek in Pt Chevalier.
"It's the right thing to do," says Charles Willmer, managing director of LeasePlan.
- Detours, HoS
