Corporate flying emissions bouncing back to pre-Covid levels: Report

Only 50 of the 322 major companies across the globe and a majority of the companies in India have set targets to reduce business travel which has gained focus after studies showed that global air travel accounts for 3.5 per cent of the anthropogenic climate warming, a briefing by the Transport and Environment said.

The briefing titled 'Travel Smart' noted that the sustainable alternatives that the companies adopted during Covid-19 need to be contained to ensure emissions do not bounce back to the 2019 levels. "We’ve seen a temptation to return to business as usual in 2022. The only way to control aviation emissions in this decade is to stop the growth in demand and for this, reducing business travel is key," it said.

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Most of the 322 companies have set 'broader targets', which is proving to be insufficient as corporate air travel is resuming. "At the end of 2022, European traffic was down by only 20% compared to the same period in 2019," the briefing said, quoting figures from International Air Transport Association.

Although all 10 Indian companies featured in the ranking report on business travel, only Tech Mahindra reports on air travel emissions specifically.

The study selected big companies with a high number of employees, high market capitalisation and those with highest travel emissions as declared by CDP dataset. "Ten companies from India were included inorder to reflect the global scope of the campaign and extend the reach to the continents," it said.

Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, MIndtree, Adani Green Energy and Larsen Toubro were ranked based on various parameters. The companies were divided into four groups based on scores (-1 to 14) awarded to commitment to reduce emissions and air travel, ambition of the reduction commitment, timeline, disclosure and years of reporting.

Of the total 322 companies analysed, 212 companies got a score of 3 to 6.5, putting them in the third category. These included seven Indian companies. As many as 63 big companies, including two from India, scored less than 2.5 and fell into D category. Only 38, including Wipro, managed to get to the B group (6.5 to 10) while 11 scored high on got into the A group.
Denise Auclair, corporate travel manager at Transport & Environment, said: "It is encouraging to see advancements taking place in India which are being led mostly by the technology industry. We invite these technology companies to continue to work on their travel policies and demonstrate leadership to catalyse change in other industries."

In a release, Travel and Transport said the climate impact of business flying extends further than CO2 emissions: nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide and water.

"These are commonly referred to as non-CO2 emissions, and it is estimated that they account for two thirds of total climate warming from flying. Yet only very few companies reflect the total impact of business flights by accounting for non-CO2 effects," it said.