Written by: Gabriele Indrieri, VP & Managing Director for SAP Concur EMEA South
Dubai, UAE, 26 July 2022: Business travel is on the rise, with 83% of organisations recovering to pre-pandemic volumes of domestic travel and 63% returning to previous levels of international journeys, according to an SAP Concur survey. This increase in travel has been accompanied by the revelation that 46% of organisations are looking to reduce their carbon emissions, and one way of doing so is through carbon compensation.
Research has found that 37% of businesses have carbon compensation as a key objective for their 2022 sustainability agenda. However, sometimes the process of calculating and compensating emissions can be cumbersome and manual. Unfortunately, just under half (46%) of businesses have software tools in place, but 86% of those without would consider these.
With this in mind, Gabriele Indrieri, VP & Managing Director for SAP Concur EMEA South, says that it is therefore vital for business owners to ensure their teams are supported by the right tools. “As the demand for higher levels of sustainability grows, so do questions around corporate travel policy which will be raised more strongly and often by more parties from management and supply-chain partners to external stakeholders and even employees.”
“It is for this reason that CHOOOSE has partnered with SAP Concur to launch its new app which is a carbon emissions management solution to help organisations measure, reduce, and manage their travel emissions,” he says. “Travel managers can now easily set carbon budgets in line with company-specific goals, such as a 30% reduction of emissions by 2030, and then view and assess their live travel emissions against these targets. They will also be able to track the performance of their corporate carbon program through a live carbon emissions dashboard.”
“Having accurate reporting and analysis capabilities plays a crucial role in setting up and managing a truly sustainable travel programme,” Indrieri adds.
“The survey also reveals that organisations are looking to prioritise environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles that resonate with the recent COP26 agenda of reducing carbon emissions, with 46% setting objectives around carbon reduction,” he points out. “The CHOOOSE Climate App also integrates with Concur Travel and Concur TripLink which will allow businesses to access rich content to track and learn about selected climate solutions and the Sustainable Development Goals they impact for ESG reporting and communication purposes.”
In addition, he highlights that now organisations will also be able to access and select from high-impact, vetted carbon solutions, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
“There is more pressure than ever from customers, stakeholders, and senior managers to deliver sustainability solutions,” says Indrieri. “CHOOOSE helps organisations integrate climate action simply and easily into their corporate travel programs. It equips travel managers to make sustainable choices, while having a single, centralised location for measuring, monitoring, reducing, and managing emissions.”
“At SAP Concur, we are committed to helping our customers adapt to the new world, with tools that enable them to reinvent and transform their organisations, and this solution will help those looking to reduce their carbon emissions sufficiently,” he concludes.
The CHOOOSE Climate App is now available in the SAP Concur App Centre.