In 2021, it was estimated [1] that 20% of global travel and tourism expenditure came from businesses. In tandem, flights currently account for around 90% of business travel emissions, with more people than ever choosing to fly over other more sustainable methods of transportation. This is particularly concerning as mile for mile, flying is the most unsustainable way to travel. A return flight from London to San Francisco emits around 5.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per person - more than twice the emissions produced by a family car in a year, and about half of the average carbon footprint of someone living in Britain. Even a return flight from London to Berlin emits around 0.6 tonnes CO2e - three times the emissions saved from a year of recycling.

While many business meetings or events are worth hosting in person, others could just as easily be held online, especially if flying across borders is a requirement. In my own experience, most meetings held overseas involve a group discussion, perhaps a brief meal out, and flying back that same day. This leads me to question if flying for business is worth it. With Zoom and Microsoft Teams readily available and being used across almost every organisation, do we really need to travel so far for an event or meeting when it harms the planet? Ironically, I have seen many oversees events and conferences, which aim to address improving sustainability or implementing more sustainable business practices with thousands of delegates flying in... 

In November I attended Slush [2] - the world's leading startup event in Helsinki, where more than 11,000 people were in attendance. As the two-day event was in Finland, many attendees travelled by plane. The event was incredibly insightful, but it did not sit right with me that I would be contributing so heavily to climate change for a brief business conference that lasted less than 48 hours if I travelled by plane. I therefore, rather boldly, decided that, rather than flying, I would cycle more than 600 kilometres from the Hook of Holland to a town called Travelmunde in Germany, catching two ferries in the process to travel to the event. By catching the two-day train on the way home, I was still able to work using the WiFi, and at the same time, saved an estimated 300kg of CO2 compared to flying. Imagine, if even just a tenth of the people attending Slush took the train or another more sustainable mode of transport instead, how much of an impact we could have.

I must stress that this is not a call to say that we need to ban all flight travel and must cycle to all our destinations moving forwards. I travelled by plane to Chicago earlier this year and will do the same to Japan in 2026 for a holiday and I could not be more excited. It is more about raising awareness of the impact that this kind of travel has on our planet, balancing the scales, and understanding that there are other more sustainable, often better, alternatives. For example, I once flew to Chamonix for a one-day meeting, but I could have easily travelled via the famous mountain train instead. Admittedly, it takes a little longer, but I would have been much more environmentally conscious, all while admiring the French Alps while I worked.

For businesses looking to trial more sustainable travel practices, I recommend implementing a business travel policy that ensures that all business travel is necessary. Ask yourself: can this event be done online? Can we travel there in a more sustainable way? Or is this so urgent that we need to fly out? Since we've started asking ourselves these questions at Peak, I am pleased to say that we have not taken a single flight. Organisations committed to being a ‘business for good' or gaining B Corp authorisation will also be pleased to know that a more sustainable business travel policy can lead to a smoother certification.

At Peak, we also incentivise staff for being more travel conscious in their personal lives. For example, we offer a free day of holiday when an employee is traveling via a train instead of a plane, as it often takes longer to arrive at the destination. So, if somebody was to visit Germany via a train, but it took a day to get there, the day of travel would not be taken from their annual leave allocation. This helps to remove an understandable time barrier for our employees and ensure that we, as a collective organisation, can play a part in protecting our planet for years to come.