Business travel emissions see 34% reduction since 2019 among 239 global companies

Global corporations are flying less, according to a new report and ranking by the Travel Smart Campaign, but too many firms still lack sustainable travel targets and three multinationals have been named and shamed for increasing rather than decreasing their travel emissions since 2019.

The Travel Smart campaign is a global effort led by Transport & Environment (T&E) to  “help businesses move towards purposeful travel and reduce corporate emissions.” It advocates that firms target a 50% cut in air travel emissions – which its research shows is necessary “to keep aviation within a 1.5°C-compatible pathway.”

“Disproportionate” business travel puts climate targets at risk

Their latest ranking shows that business travel by 239 of the biggest US, Indian and European companies fell by 34% between 2019 and 2023. However, that progress is undermined, the campaign says, by “a main obstacle to progress”. That is: 44% of the 326 companies in the ranking still have no target applying to business travel.

Worse, according to Travel Smart, “disproportionate flying by Merck, Bosch, JPMorgan Chase and other top polluters put overall achievements at risk.” The trio’s record when it comes to business flying is described as “particularly disappointing” in the report, which labels them the “top-flying companies in the finance, pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors.” They increased their business travel emissions by 41%, 29% and 3% respectively since 2019.

Merck, Bosch, and JPMorgan Chase are contrasted unfavourably with “peers like AstraZeneca, Tetra Pak and Swiss Re” who “show less flying is both possible and compatible with successful business.”

Target setting is key to success

Target setting is a key part of their emissions reduction success, Travel Smart argues, noting that AstraZeneca set a target in 2020 and has slashed its business flying by 52% since 2019. Food packaging company Tetra Pak set a target in 2019 and has cut emissions by 41% since. What’s more, insurance group Swiss Re, with a target since 2020, now emits 67% less than in 2019. 

Denise Auclair, Head of Travel Smart, says: “The shift towards purposeful travel and flying less is clear. Many companies are doing it successfully while remaining competitive. However, some laggards are putting overall progress at risk. It’s time for high polluters that don’t have a target to follow the lead set by others. Keeping business flying emissions low is one of the fastest and simplest solutions for corporations to meet sustainability goals and be attractive places to work”.

Merck, Bosch, and JPMorgan Chase are not the only ones singled out for criticism in the report. The ranking names the 25 global companies with the largest business flying footprint but no targets. Google and Apple are among the 25 guilty which “claim to be greenleaders [but] have not taken credible steps to set targets for years, despite their flights emitting annually a total of 6.9 Mt CO₂.”

25 firms emit equivalent of 48,000 single flights

Smart Travel points out that those emissions are “the equivalent of the climate footprint of 48,000 single flights travelling from Paris to New York, or 1.3 times the yearly aviation emissions of Belgium.” The picture gets worse, the campaign group says, when it is taken into account that “at least 19 of the top flyers – or their CEOs – own or charter private jets. These include Johnson & Johnson and Meta.”

Only seven of the global companies included in the ranking managed to improve their score to go from the B category and become A-rated. Setting emission reduction targets is an essential part of that, Auclair said, calling on others to “join this transformation to a future where air travel no longer compromises the health of our planet and people.”