TMCs / Sustainability
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TMCs are expanding their services to help clients reduce their carbon footprint, says Gill Upton
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ast summer Trees4Travel was a start-up carbon offset company with three staff. By the end of January numbers had swelled to 40 plus, with 34 live clients and 50 other corporates queuing to sign contracts. By the year-end owner Nico Nicholas predicts they will have 500 global clients. If this particular sustainability partner‘s expansion trajectory is anything to go by, the message is getting through that sustainability is no longer a box-ticking exercise. But in the post-Covid world – and with the 2030 50% reduction in carbon target looming – offsetting cannot be the only activity. Paying to plant a few trees or an entire forest will not help reach the 2030
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target, let alone the 2050 net zero target. Travel reduction has to happen in tandem and TMCs are helping clients to justify every trip. For them it’s a crucial new revenue stream that will help in their recovery as consultancy divisions provide more of the advice rather than account managers providing it for free. Many TMCs are appointing a sustainability lead to drive this new dedicated service. ATPI, for example, has launched a sustainability division called Halo to help clients reach their sustainability goals and is working directly with providers rather than through brokers for offsetting. “We give clients the ideas and solutions,” says the company’s Adam Knights.
Whichever way corporates jump, TMCs are key to navigating the critical path to sustainability”
THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.com
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3/7/22 03:34 PM
