5 Ways To Green Your Business Travel

Business travel today is a significant portion of all travel. Businesses send employees to conferences, for field work and consultancy, and to perform investigations. It is important to Go GREEN in the office (which you can do with a Green Office Makeover), but it is also important to go green outside. Here are ten ways you can green your business travel without sacrificing their goals.

1. Use Teleconferencing Services. Go green by selecting a meeting “method” that doesn’t involve travel, such as phone or online conferencing. Sometimes nothing beats an in-person handshake, but very often videoconferencing is just as productive, as well as cheaper, easier, and more eco-friendly. Teleconferencing can be done via a conference call, data conferencing (via Adobe Acrobat Connect, Twiddla, IBM Lotus Sametime Entry, Convenos, and WebHuddle), Internet teleconferencing (via a instant messaging user interface such as Yahoo! Messenger, Live Messenger, Skype, or Google Talk) or video conferencing.

2. Travel by Train or Bus. Avoid the long security lines at the airport and book a ticket on a train or intercity bus. Your trip will leave a lower carbon footprint and you might even enjoy the slower pace. Train or bus transportation is the perfect replacement for commuter flights and drives and is much more environmentally-friendly. Although it might technically take longer to reach your destination than a plane, when you factor in the typical delays associated with air travel, (including rush-hour congestion getting to the airport, security delays, weather delays, and car rental delays) the time difference may become insignificant. Also, bus and train passengers can often disembark in a central downtown location, minimizing or eliminating the need for ground transportation.

3. Fly with Green-Leaning Airlines. From recycling to carbon offsets, some airlines are promoting policies that mitigate air travel’s environmental impacts. Airplanes contribute to global warming by producing 600 million tons of carbon dioxide a year and US airports generate approximately 425,000 tons of garbage. Click here for a list of the top 10 green airlines.

4. Choose a Green Hotel. Leverage your green business muscle when choosing corporate hotel partners. Gauge their eco-commitment and make it known that “green” matters to you and your employees. Try to stay within walking distance of your meeting, or somewhere easily accessible via public transit. Use caution, however, as many hotels are only “green-leaning.” Some only offer a towel/sheet reuse program and recycling containers in guest rooms, whereas others pamper guests with an array of high-end eco-amenities (think solar-powered hot water, luxurious organic cotton sheets, and fine bamboo-fiber stationery). Click here to find a green hotel near you.

5. Offset Your Travel Emissions. It is difficult for even the most energy-efficient business to run carbon-free. For those inevitable travel-related carbon emissions, there are carbon offsets to help you and your company get down to zero. GreenIrene sells BeGreen carbon offsets for electricity, vehicle, and airplane travel that use your money to buy renewable energy credits (RECs) from solar, wind, and biomass facilities and fund reforestation projects around the country.