Case study Archives - Travel Smart https://travelsmartcampaign.org/post-type/case-study/ Thu, 05 Dec 2024 10:56:13 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://travelsmartcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/travel-smart-favicon-150x150.jpg Case study Archives - Travel Smart https://travelsmartcampaign.org/post-type/case-study/ 32 32 Simon-Kucher https://travelsmartcampaign.org/library/simon-kucher-case-study/ Thu, 28 Nov 2024 13:52:42 +0000 https://travelsmartcampaign.org/?post_type=library&p=15544 Simon-Kucher: Driving decarbonization by integrating sustainability criteria into every business travel activity Simon-Kucher, a global consultancy, is one of the first German companies amongst leaders in the Travel Smart Ranking and has been recognized as a Rail Frontrunner for the second consecutive year by the Travel  Smart campaign. This achievement underscores their continuous commitment to […]

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Simon-Kucher: Driving decarbonization by integrating sustainability criteria into every business travel activity

Simon-Kucher, a global consultancy, is one of the first German companies amongst leaders in the Travel Smart Ranking and has been recognized as a Rail Frontrunner for the second consecutive year by the Travel  Smart campaign. This achievement underscores their continuous commitment to environmental sustainability, particularly in reducing emissions from corporate business travel activities, by prioritizing rail over air travel wherever possible while maintaining client relationships. We spoke with Anne Rupp, Global Head of ESG, to learn more  about Simon-Kucher’s strategy and their strides in reducing business travel emissions.

Simon-Kucher is in the leading categories of the Travel Smart Ranking. What have been the main  ingredients for you to be one of the first German companies at the top of the list?  

At Simon-Kucher, we envision ourselves generating sustainable growth and having a positive impact  on our people, planet, communities, and our clients. That is why we are aware of our environmental  impact on our planet by our business activities, particularly through business travel activities, as  travel is an integral part of client integration. Continuous monitoring of emissions, setting  emission reduction targets, as well as transparent reporting and communication of our emissions has  been key in getting Simon-Kucher into the top of the list. 

Additionally, our recognition as a Rail First frontrunner stems from embedding sustainability into our  corporate travel guidelines, prioritizing rail for shorter trips whenever feasible, and leveraging  science-based targets validated by the SBTi. Leadership support and the commitment of our employees, who champion these efforts in their daily work, have been instrumental. 

You are among the companies leading the shift from air to rail. Why has rail been such a key aspect  of your sustainable travel strategy?  

We believe that rail travel is a practical and efficient way to reduce our travel emissions while  maintaining client relationships. For trips under a certain time threshold, rail is the most sustainable choice of travel. Introduction of our Global Travel Guidelines and strong employee engagement have been  instrumental in the shift from air to rail travel. Beyond its environmental benefits, rail aligns with our  broader climate strategy and demonstrates our responsibility as a global consultancy. 

Simon-Kucher employees use trains by default for trips below a certain threshold. Could you detail  this measure and how it was decided?  

Our Global Travel Guidelines mandate rail travel for trips under a three-hour threshold and where  infrastructure is well developed and feasible. This decision was data-driven, informed by an analysis  of our most frequent travel routes and their carbon footprints. Working together with our Group  Travel Manager and feedback from our employees helped ensure the shift was both practical and  impactful. Additionally, the three-hour threshold was set based on balancing our sustainability goals with consultants’ productivity and convenience during travel while also maintaining client’s relationships. 

Consulting is among the sectors with the best scores in the ranking. What can other sectors learn  from this experience in reducing business travel-related emissions?  

Business travel is one of the biggest sources of emissions in the consulting sector, as meeting clients  is an integral part of our daily business activities. While travel remains essential, consulting can  successfully reduce emissions through a combination of strategies that other sectors can adopt. This  includes a data-driven approach to monitor and manage travel patterns, integrating clear travel  guidelines, and fostering strong employee engagement. Additionally, collaborating with clients to  minimize travel, investing in advanced virtual meeting tools, and building a culture that values  sustainability alongside operational excellence have proven effective in balancing business needs  with environmental responsibility. 

We believe that rail travel is a practical and efficient way to reduce our travel emissions while maintaining client’s relationships. Introduction of our Global Travel Guidelines and strong employee engagement has been instrumental in shift from air to rail travel.
Anne Rupp
Global Head of ESG, Simon-Kucher

What were the key factors that helped you set a reduction target?  

At Simon-Kucher, we are committed to environmental protection and sustainable business practices.  At the core of this commitment lies our strategic goals to fulfill our climate responsibility by reducing  our footprint in line with the Paris Agreement. Our vision and core values of “Creating Positive  Impact” drive us to set ambitious reduction targets. Additionally, meeting regulatory requirements,  addressing client expectations, and staying competitive further motivate our sustainability efforts. 

Our reduction targets are validated by SBTi, aligned with the Paris Agreement and are based on the  detailed analysis of our corporate carbon footprint.  

What challenges does Simon-Kucher find in reducing emissions from travel, and how do you  overcome them?  

Balancing sustainability goals with the need for in-person client meetings is a key challenge. To  address this, we focus on purposeful travel, ensuring that trips are planned to maximize value. Clear  communication, strong employee engagement, collaboration with departments and showcasing the  benefits of our travel guidelines have been critical to securing buy-in across the organization. 

Are there improvements in the quality of rail services that would further facilitate the uptake of  rail by Simon-Kucher employees?  

Reliability is essential. For consultants with tightly scheduled commitments, the ability to depend on  trains arriving on time is crucial. Improvements in cross-border connections, streamlined ticketing,  and expanded high-speed networks would further enhance rail’s feasibility and attractiveness.

What are the benefits of reducing flying emissions for the business and for employees?  

For the business, reducing flying emissions whenever feasible aligns with our ESG strategy and  enhances our reputation with clients. It demonstrates our commitment to sustainability and  supports long-term environmental goals. For employees, these efforts foster a sense of shared  responsibility and contribute to a forward-thinking corporate culture. 

What would you say to a company hesitating on setting a reduction goal?  

Start small but start now. Focus on areas where changes can make the biggest impact, such as  reducing short-haul flights and switching to rail. Setting clear but achievable goals and implementing  targeted measures builds momentum and shows stakeholders that sustainability is a priority. 

What are the next steps for Simon-Kucher in terms of business travel emissions reduction?  

We’re focused on refining our travel guidelines, collaborating with stakeholders to improve rail  access, and engaging employees to continue our progress toward net zero. Continuous reporting and  monitoring will remain central to tracking our success.

Learn more about Simon-Kucher's case study

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]]> [Webinar] Carbon budgets: Swiss Re’s journey to halve air travel emissions https://travelsmartcampaign.org/library/webinar-swiss-res-successful-journey-to-air-travel-emissions-reduction-draft/ Mon, 12 Aug 2024 08:03:43 +0000 https://travelsmartcampaign.org/?post_type=library&p=14500 [Webinar] Carbon budgets: Swiss Re’s journey to halve air travel emissions Key information Title: Carbon Budgets Masterclass: How Swiss Re Achieved More Than 50% Reduction in Air Travel Emissions  Date: 17 July 2024 Host: Adam Braun, Co-founder and CEO of Clarasight  Participants: Andreas Gisler, Head of Travel Management and Leopoldo Gorla Senior Environmental Management Specialist […]

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[Webinar] Carbon budgets: Swiss Re's journey
to halve air travel emissions

Key information

  • Title: Carbon Budgets Masterclass: How Swiss Re Achieved More Than 50% Reduction in Air Travel Emissions 
  • Date: 17 July 2024
  • Host: Adam Braun, Co-founder and CEO of Clarasight 
  • Participants: Andreas Gisler, Head of Travel Management and Leopoldo Gorla Senior Environmental Management Specialist at Swiss Re; Denise Auclair, Travel Smart Campaign Manager at Transport & Environment 
  • Watch the webinar here.

Introduction

A new stage for sustainability has been reached in the corporate world: A shift from measuring emissions, to taking action to reduce emissions. 

What are the leading mechanisms driving change and transformation?  Carbon budgets are a prime example. They are the first amongst best practices identified by the Travel Smart Ranking of over 300 global companies on commitments and progress toward reducing air travel emissions. Denise Auclair highlighted several others: adopting a “virtual first” policy, prioritising rail when possible, eliminating one-day trips, decentralising operations, and incentivising goal achievement.

Adam Braun set the context: historically, companies haven’t done department-level carbon planning – but today there is a new regulatory and business imperative to do it. 

On the one hand, corporate sustainability reporting regulations will now require 50,000 companies to not only report on their historical emissions but to move forward with carbon targets and have credible transition plans to achieve emissions reductions. 

On the other hand, large companies are now asking suppliers to set targets and create carbon plans, recognizing that 70 to 80% of emissions are often within the supply chain.  

When it comes to reducing business travel emissions, Clarasight has identified four essentials where its carbon planning software can offer key capabilities: ensuring sustainability is a driver of business value, implementing drivers of behaviour change (eg. carbon budget, pricing, tie to compensation), modelling forecasts and scenarios for real business needs, and providing business leaders with data and tools to succeed.  

Andreas Gisler and Leopoldo Gorla spoke to these four components in their presentation, encapsulated in the below slide and Q&A. Swiss Re’s strategy, commitments and tools led to reducing their air travel emissions by more than 50%, and to their top performance in the Travel Smart Ranking. 

Source: This timeline is from Swiss Re’s presentation  

Questions & Answers (Q&A)

Swiss Re

We know this is a collaborative journey, can you provide an overview of who have been the key stakeholders driving the commitment to your travel emissions reduction, and why this is important to them given their roles?

In our case, the main commitment came directly from our senior management, the group Executive Committee, which is also responsible for the implementation of our group sustainability strategy. This has been a key element that helped the whole organisation to build the strategy, develop the necessary tools and also deliver on the commitments. It also supported collaboration between the sustainability and travel teams.  

Can you clarify what was the tipping point that you believe most helped get internal adoption to move to develop carbon budgets in particular?

The tipping point was the realisation in 2018 that the measures implemented in previous years didn’t really work – travel emissions were still going up. The senior management came to the conclusion that something else was needed. Therefore, it was decided to set a reduction target and implement a carbon budget that is coupled with our internal carbon price.

You’ve clearly built in-house software to enable forward-looking planning, ongoing analysis and custom carbon budget reporting – how long did this take and which capabilities unlocked the greatest transformation? 

It took us a couple of years to get where we are today. We consolidated our travel agency landscape and the first iteration of the dashboard was available in 2018. It really helped a lot to have one single global travel agency in place with whom we speak and who provides our data. The key element is definitely the dashboard, which is also a self-service option for the line managers and cost controllers, and also key to keep the travel community engaged.   

I’m sure you experienced resistance and may still today, what were the biggest obstacles you faced and how have you navigated that resistance? Is there anything you’d encourage others who want to implement similar strategies like a carbon budget?

We implemented the carbon budget just before we set our first target in 2020 when the pandemic started. The travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic helped because we were forced to stop travelling. And it proved to us that we could do business without travelling a lot. 

There are some corporate trips that are necessary for business purposes, and we don’t aim to stop travelling nor to reduce to a level that isn’t sustainable financially for the company. But we managed to avoid all those unnecessary trips that were happening in the past. Therefore, we kept some of these pandemic learnings to keep our emissions low. 

Were there any notable strategies or communication approaches that proved effective in gaining support from different departments or leadership levels?

An important thing is to have the data available to show to the senior management what needs to be done and also what are the outcomes of implementing those measures.

The tipping point was the realisation in 2018 that the measures implemented in previous years didn’t really work - travel emissions were still going up. The senior management came to the conclusion that something else was needed. Therefore, it was decided to set a reduction target and implement a carbon budget that is coupled with our internal carbon price.
Leopoldo Gorla
Senior Environmental Management Specialist at Swiss Re

Travel Smart

You called out some tactics of top performers but, what have you seen as unique culturally about top performing companies on your list? 

I’ll highlight three main elements: the first is commitment. In Swiss Re’s presentation we can see how they got started, how they set a target and how over time they saw the opportunity to increase the ambition of the target. Their current target is in line with what Transport & Environment has assessed as being necessary for the sustainability of the future of aviation, which is to keep business travel emissions below 50% of pre-pandemic levels. Some of the other companies we talk to have highlighted the challenge of seeing their emissions on an upward trend after the lifting of travel restrictions in 2022 and 2023 – and how it’s really important to keep working towards their commitments.   

The second is the continuous reassessment. Swiss Re is continuously reviewing and looking to improve the tools and measures they have. They recognised that the analysis that they did in 2018, where the average air travel per employee didn’t significantly reduce after implementing certain measures, is really significant. So they recognised which measures were working well and what was still lacking.  

The third is about the multiple benefits that reducing emissions can bring and how that’s important for the company’s internal and external communication. As well as  being good for the planet and for society, we can see the benefits of reducing emissions from a cost and economic perspective in the company, by for example avoiding unnecessary trips. But also from the travellers’ perspective, by caring for the employees and allowing them more freedom in the way they manage their travel choices, as Swiss Re did by building a self-service tool.    

Time stamps

  • [02:29-03:13] – Agenda of the webinar 
  • [03:13-04:10] – Introduction: Companies are shifting from measuring emissions to reducing emissions 
  • [04:10-11:30] – Denise Auclair presents the Travel Smart Ranking 
  • [11:30-18:20] – Adam Braun sets the context of corporate carbon planning  
  • [18:20-31:30] – Leopoldo Gorla presents Swiss Re’s approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions  
  • [31:30-38:20] – Andreas Gisler presents Swiss Re’s Travel Planning Tool and the implementation of carbon metrics  
  • [38:20-39:17] – Swiss Re’s key takeaways
  • [39:17-56:00] – Q&A

More information

Number of attendees

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0

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]]> Lloyds Banking Group https://travelsmartcampaign.org/library/lloyds-banking-group/ Tue, 07 Feb 2023 10:47:30 +0000 https://travelsmartcampaign.org/?post_type=library&p=8166 All cases With an A grade in the Travel Smart Ranking, Lloyds Banking Group shows a strong commitment to reduce its travel-related emissions by keeping them below 50% of their 2019 levels. Applying the three P’s” Purpose, Planet and Planning, Lloyds Banking Group can lay the foundations for companies in the finance sector looking to improve […]

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Lloyds Banking Group

With an A grade in the Travel Smart Ranking, Lloyds Banking Group shows a strong commitment to reduce its travel-related emissions by keeping them below 50% of their 2019 levels. Applying the three P’s” Purpose, Planet and Planning, Lloyds Banking Group can lay the foundations for companies in the finance sector looking to improve their ranking score, innovate their policies, and invest in their reputation.

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