2021 World Environment Day Encourages Businesses to Make Sustainable Choices

As some restrictions begin to ease and we learn to live in a very different world, learnings from 2020 are in abundance. At the beginning of last year, it seemed set to be the year of environmental chaos; with wildfires ravaging through millions of hectares of forests across the globe and California’s Death Valley experiencing the hottest temperature ever recorded, it became hard to ignore the need for worldwide change in attitudes towards how we treat our environment.

World Environment Day is using its theme this year to help the planet not only rebuild from Covid-19, but also rebuild the ecosystems that have become desolate in recent years.

World Environment Day: What’s the aim and why is it important?

Since 1974, June 5 has been marked by the UN as World Environment Day and this year it will be hosted in Pakistan. Celebrated around the world the aim is to inspire governments, businesses and citizens alike to address concerning environmental issues. This year’s theme is Ecosystem Restoration and it ties in with the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration which aims to prevent more damage to ecosystems as well as halting and reversing what’s already been done.

Its objective it to inspire positive change and encourage us all to think about how we consume and what we can do to live more sustainably. For businesses, it explores how they can develop greener models, whether that be through consumption, resourcing or travel, and challenges governments to invest in the repair of the environment.  

The Government has already started restoring ecosystems within Pakistan by launching a new initiative called the Ecosystem Restoration fund. It will create green jobs, help with biodiversity protection and fight climate change. On top of this, Pakistan reached their goal of planting a billion trees months earlier than planned, which means they can turn their attention to restoring mangroves and planting even more trees in urban settings.

Time to do our part: How can businesses make sustainable choices?

We all share the responsibility of ensuring our planet thrives and one area businesses should look at is how they can make their Corporate travel policy more sustainable. However, our recent Corporate Travel Sustainability Index research showed that 59% of European travel decision makers still don’t know how to put a sustainable travel policy in practise.

Businesses have been under intense scrutiny in past years to be 100% transparent around travel activity and how this might affect the environment. No doubt the world will see an acceleration in consumers wanting more sustainable travel options after seeing the benefits achieved this past year due to low pollution activity and corporate travellers are no different.

Here are some steps to start with:

• Offset carbon emissions when corporate travel is being booked. Usually this is done by paying an extra charge on top of your booking.
• Policy changes can be effective in driving new practices. 97% of business travellers are prepared to invest in extra journey time in pursuit of more sustainable options.
• Consider alternative modes of travel such as getting a train instead of taking a plane which is not only more cost effective but better for the environment.
• Give your travellers more sustainable options at the time of booking, to help them make informed decisions.

How sustainable is your business when It comes to travel?

2020 allowed us to re-connect with our environment in many ways but perhaps your business could do more? The challenge is you can’t change what you can’t measure so we’ve created a benchmarking tool to help you assess how your organisation compares relative to your industry and region.

Use our sustainable corporate travel tool to find out just how sustainable your business’ corporate travel policy is, as well as to get some tips to help you go the extra mile.