Sustainable travel

Reducing the carbon footprint of trips by choosing greener options and optimising routes. This can mean favouring lower-emission modes of transport, selecting more direct routings, or booking with suppliers that have stronger environmental credentials. It's often tracked alongside cost and policy compliance as part of a company's sustainability reporting.

Measuring the footprint of business travel is usually the first step. Emissions from flights, hotel stays, rail and road travel are calculated using recognised methodologies, such as the GHG Protocol, and are typically reported under Scope 3 (indirect emissions). Once the baseline is known, companies can set targets — for example, reducing emissions per trip or per employee — and choose measures such as rail over short-haul flights, economy over premium cabins or fewer, longer trips. Hotel nights and ground transport should also be included.

Sustainable travel does not necessarily mean travelling less; it means travelling smarter. Direct flights usually produce fewer emissions than routes with connections, newer aircraft are more efficient, and some hotels have significantly lower energy use than others. Making these differences visible at the time of booking and in reports helps travellers and managers make better choices without compromising business goals.

Tumodo helps companies make business travel more sustainable. Carbon footprint analytics in the Reports section are calculated automatically in line with international standards, such as the Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index and greenhouse gas reporting methodologies. Travellers can filter flights by number of stops, book rail across Europe and choose from a wide range of accommodation, while travel policies help steer bookings towards more efficient options.