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No Irish company has set targets on the most climate-intensive form of business-travel flying and just one Irish multinational has done say.
Emissions from business travel
A new index from The Travel Smart, which ranks companies on business travel found not one Irish company had set a target to reduce corporate travel emissions.
The one Irish multinational that has, Experian, has addressed the “hidden part of the iceberg” of their non-CO2 emissions associated with their air travel.
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The Dublin-based company reports on all its greenhouse gas emissions associated with corporate flights.
The Travel Smart ranking looked at 322 companies and found just 50 had set a target to reduce business lying emissions.
Irish consulting firm Accenture is among the top emitters on the Travel Smart list.
Climate impact of business flying
As well as the carbon dioxide emissions associated with flying, aircraft engines also emit nitrous oxides, sulphur dioxide, water and particulate matter.
These emissions accounts for two-thirds of total climate warming effects from flying yet very few companies count the non-carbon dioxide emissions in assessing the impacts of business flights.
Chief executive of Opportunity Green, Aoife O’Leary said: “Corporates are turning a blind eye to the harms done by flying for work.
“Most companies in Ireland are taking little to no action on business flying emissions, which renders any other travel targets meaningless in the context of tackling climate change. It’s disappointing that so few businesses align with science by reporting on the non-CO2 emissions of their air travel- the hidden part of the iceberg of aviation’s full climate impact.
“This is especially problematic as aviation pays no VAT or fuel tax and the Irish government abolished a tax on the sector in 2014”.
The study shows that if the top 10 per cent of companies in terms of emitter set reduction targets of 50 per cent, this would go halfway to achieving the global target of having corporate air travel emissions by 2025.
“The biggest emitters have a disproportionate role to play in reducing their corporate flying emissions as the Irish government has failed in its duty to reduce the climate impact of aviation,” O’Leary said.
“There is no excuse for inaction – the means to achieve this are more accessible than ever before: rail travel when distances permit it, video conferencing, and support for government regulation to truly reduce aviation’s jumbo-jet-sized impact on the environment.”
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