Follow our step-by-step guide to find out how one TMC created an environmental policy and successfully reduced its carbon footprint
Gray Dawes should be patting itself on the back right now as it’s one of the few TMCs to have actually reduced its carbon footprint. It’s been a long journey which began a couple of years ago when it decided to put into place an environmental policy and programme. “It’s evolved from that really,” explains Louise Joplin, marketing manager at Gray Dawes, “and we’ve gradually introduced it.”
While many travel companies use carbon offset as a measure of their green credentials Gray Dawes has actively worked to deliver a net reduction in CO2 by investing in process management and staff engagement instead. “This is possibly a first for a UK travel management company,” claims Joplin.
Gray Dawes introduced a wide range of initiatives to get where it is today. “As part of the staff handbook we talked about our environmental goals and reducing our carbon footprint, and how we could achieve that across both our facilities and business travel. It was by initiatives such as reducing the amount of photocopying we did, recycling print cartridges, improved meetings management and that sort of thing,” explains Joplin.
“It’s only a matter of remembering the process,” says Joplin, who says the company updates its environ-mental policy regularly and communi-cates its green achievements to staff.
In April 2008 Gray Dawes was in a position to measure its carbon output against the previous year and it witnessed a 15.7 per cent drop in business travel activity and 2.6 per cent from facilities. The trend is set to continue through 2009 with estimated further reductions of around six per cent in business travel and two per cent in facilities management, with the introduction of electronic invoicing as opposed to printing and posting. Find out how it achieved this result by reading on...
Step 1: Gray Dawes purposefully did not set a goal. “Being new to it we didn’t know what to expect,” explains Joplin.
Step 2: It then extracted the data to enable measurement to take place. That’s an easy step, as long as you have a TMC who can provide it. Air data is the easiest to attain – from TMC’s reports – and it would be easy just to concentrate on that seeing as it’s the highest emission category, but of course it is not the complete picture.
Step 3: The next step it took was to measure the company’s carbon output, and this is one of the most difficult steps. “It’s not easy to record taxi journeys and the mileage,” says Joplin. “We changed our processes to ensure easier capture of car mileage and hotel night stays, but rail proved more difficult. It’s only now that we have changed our MI process that we can consolidate rail data,” she says.
“We used energy bills and facilities reports to measure office carbon emissions and these changes now make it easier for us to track and control our business activities that result in carbon emissions.”
Step 4: Gray Dawes then put into place a policy that dictated rail travel over air (unless it was costlier), public transport over taxis, car share over single-driver journeys, and so on. “We always encourage car sharing, particularly if a group is going to the same meeting, of course” says Joplin.
“We also encouraged our staff to think smart, to do one meeting in the morning and another in the afternoon rather than two meetings on two different days,” explains Joplin. Essential travel was also introduced via a strict travel approval process which had to be signed off by the managing director.
They really pushed car sharing and promoted rail travel over air travel, particularly to tackle both the large number of trips employees made from London to other UK cities to see clients, as well as travel for internal meetings at its offices in London and its HQ in Colchester where the majority of its staff are based.
Step 5: Gray Dawes then looked inside its own offices to see what could be improved. “It’s the internal stuff that’s more challenging,” warns Joplin. Look at energy performance by measuring electricity output, for example, from your electricity bills and measure the carbon change from one year to the next. Install lighting that only comes on when someone’s in the room. Think twice before printing a document and ask, ‘Can you email it instead?’
“We had to count the number of paper recycling bags being collected and count them again in a comparative period. We also weighed our plastic cup waste and compared month on month,” recalls Joplin.
Step 6: Know when to stop measuring.“We measure as far as possible where data is readily available, but it is important to understand where to draw the line and concentrate on areas where you can have an impact by introducing internal controls,” explains Joplin.
Step 7: Communicate what you’re doing. Gray Dawes promoted its environmental policy internally on the company intranet as well as communicating its intentions and progress to staff via email. Its corporate website also details its commitment to the environment and provides a carbon offset facility.
Step 8: Gray Dawes will be developing its own carbon emissions reporting system, with the help of Aggresso and The Carbon Consultancy, to provide more detailed data than DEFRA currently offers. This new functionality will enable the company and its clients to drill down to individual airline and aircraft type and provide advice on the most environmentally friendly option.
This information will be available to its client base as part of a consultancy service managed though Gray Dawes’ account management team. “This sort of information will allow
our clients to get the right balance between reducing carbon emissions and reducing travel costs. It will also put pressure on suppliers to ensure they are actively pursuing fuel efficient services,” explains Bernard Harrop, the subject matter expert Gray Dawes is employing on a consultancy basis to formalise the client offering. “This is about a sensible approach to best practice in this arena,” says Harrop.
Step 9: As a good corporate citizen, Gray Dawes is being asked frequently by clients to help them start the process of reducing CO2. With Harrop’s input, Gray Dawes is looking at how it can develop its environmental programme for both itself and its client base.
“It’s about smarter travel,” says Harrop, “and how to make sensible savings without ruining your business. A business has to continue to satisfy the financial needs of its shareholders while at the same time supporting initiatives to reduce its carbon output.”
