“The tool takes the emphasis away from cost and puts it squarely on emissions. So, approval is based on emissions with an FYI of the cost, not the other way around,” she said. “Because if people don’t travel as much, we’re going save the organization money anyway. So, we don’t need to focus on cost savings because better decisions will drive that.”

And the proof is in the pudding.

Since the release of EY STAT, same-day trips have dropped 15 percentage points, globally.

Rail bookings in countries where the tool has been deployed have increased to 25 percent of all bookings. For one participating firm where there is an extensive rail network, EY’s rail bookings increased from 20 percent to 63 percent following implementation of the approval tool.

Overall, rail bookings have increased to 22 percent of all travel bookings, compared with 10 percent in 2019. 

Global Goals, Local Realities

As one of the Big Four accounting firms, EY has more than 700 offices in more than 150 countries and while the company’s member firms are guided by global ESG goals, these are often translated into local travel policies.

“There was a socialization that happened when the global [carbon emissions reduction] goal was set, and so everybody from the member firms would have bought into that concept,” Hutchings explained. “But the reality be can be quite different. … There are some markets where sustainability is not high on the priority list from a cultural or governmental perspective, so we’re helping [travelers and stakeholders in] those countries instigate change.”

Hutchings said the travel, meetings and events team has “taken it upon ourselves” to oversee rollout of EY STAT, ensuring regional and local stakeholders were informed about travel policy changes and were presented with the business case behind STAT.

“Because so much of our carbon emissions come from business travel, it’s our job to ensure EY’s ESG goals are adhered to… this has given us something completely different to get involved with. It’s given us leadership,” Hutchings said.

On top of individual traveler dashboards that chart carbon emissions, a monthly emissions dashboard is shared with key regional stakeholders to chart how member firm countries and service lines are tracking against their carbon budgets.

While EY implemented carbon budgets last July, Hutchings said “we don’t insist on decisions made against it.” However, travel emissions dashboards are “certainly part of the teams’ business reviews with service lines” to ensure the company meets its goals, she said.

Pushing Technology Further

Air and ground transport are the current focus of EY’s carbon emissions measurement, however Hutchings and her team are now “doing a lot of work” with a select number of hotel providers in order to integrate emissions data linked to hotel usage as part of STAT.

“Measuring individual hotels is where we want to get to,” Hutchings said. “We want to be able to make recommendations to our employees that say. ‘If you select this hotel based on various criteria, it is recommended over another,’ but that’s still a work in progress and we’re using third parties to help build that.”

To meet the needs of its young employee base—the average age of EY employees is 27—the company also is looking to integrate gamification into STAT, along with the ability to earn an “eco badge” based on sustainable travel choices.

“We’ve gone out and gathered feedback so that we can develop the right tools to help drive change,” Hutchings said. “We love the challenge because it’s given us an opportunity to showcase the innovation that we have in the team.”