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Corporates who fail to offer low-carbon travel options could lose out in the battle to recruit the best prospective employees, according to a survey from Trainline.
The rail technology company’s B2B platform provider Trainline Partner Solutions surveyed 1,000 UK-based business travellers. It found that more than half (53 per cent) would prioritise joining an organisation offering sustainable travel options over a competitor that did not provide these low-carbon choices.
The growing importance of sustainability was further reinforced by the fact that 91 per cent of respondents now consider it a priority when travelling.
This trend has strengthened since the pandemic, with 72 per cent of travellers now more interested in finding lower carbon ways to travel than they were pre-2020.
Despite this growing interest in more sustainable travel, 51 per cent said their current company does not have a policy to support lower carbon modes of travel, or if such as policy is in place it is “limited to non-existent” in practice.
This has led to nearly two-thirds of travellers (62 per cent) having to take short-haul flights or car journeys for business trips when they would have preferred to have the option of using a more sustainable alternative, such as taking the train.
Business travellers have been reticent about asking their employer for more sustainable travel choices due to fears of a “negative reaction” from management – either due to increased costs (26 per cent) or the longer duration of the journey (24 per cent).
There is a strong willingness by travellers to use more sustainable travel options even if the journey takes longer, with 70 per cent prepared to go by train even if it “took significantly longer” than by aircraft.
Furthermore, more than half of respondents (53 per cent) thought that it would “reflect well” on organisations if they offered stronger support for sustainable business travel.
Liz Emmott, director of global distribution at Trainline Partner Solutions, said: “Our data demonstrates the desire for lower carbon travel is a cross-generational trend and business travellers of all ages identify sustainability as a priority – this is not just confined to Gen Z.
“Unfortunately, the data also shows many UK businesses still lag behind the curve in promoting and providing the low-carbon travel that their employees crave.
“As we enter a new era for ESG (environmental, social, and governance) reporting, the time for action is now: through technology we can support businesses to implement simple and seamless greener travel programmes.”
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