Accounting for Business Travel’s Greenhouse Impact

According to The Australian, a jet aircraft flying from London to Hong Kong puts out an astonishing 2.76 tons of carbon dioxide – per passenger. That’s not trivial. Interestingly, it’s not the airlines that are bearing the brunt of criticism for this quantity of emissions. Rather, it’s business travellers. When a firm is audited for its climate footprint, business travel ranks as one of the most important sources of greenhouse gas emissions. HSBC alone accounted for 96,000 tons in 2004. Typically, rather than curbing travel, firms have turned to carbon offsetting schemes to try to account for the effects of their emissions.