9 Ways To Reduce Transport Emissions
We talk about transport emissions A LOT, but with good reason. Transport emissions generally make up 70%+ of both holiday and event emissions. Business travel emissions are often a significant proportion of a company’s staff-related emissions too and make up roughly a quarter of a UK citizen’s personal carbon footprint. In this article, we look at our top nine ways to reduce transport emissions that you can apply to your business and your personal life.
1. Incentivise green travel
The first one is for businesses. Offering incentives is a positive way to shape the way your workforce commute and travel for business. Here are some of the best we’ve come across. Firstly, paying ‘green’ mileage. Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs) aren't just for cars and motorbikes, but push bikes and electric bikes too. Companies can pay employees using their bikes for business journeys up to 20p per mile to help with the maintenance costs of their bike AND get tax relief on the amount paid. Note: businesses can pay more, but would be taxed on payments over 20p per mile.
If employees in your business are allowed to book business class air travel, you could incentivise them to book economy class by splitting the financial savings with them. This will save money whilst making significant emissions savings. Economy seats take up less space on the plane and more seats means more passengers to share the carbon cost of the flight.
The maths: An economy class seat on a flight from London to Geneva creates 114 kgs of CO2 per person whilst the same journey in business class creates 171 kgs of CO2e.
In our view, one of the best ways to keep your company’s business travel emissions in check is to introduce a business travel carbon budget. This provides a framework to help teams prioritise the most important trips and consider the type of transport they use. They may need to fly internationally to a conference, but to stay within budget, might then need to prioritise train or coach travel to domestic meetings.
2. Go electric
There are lots of reasons to transition to an electric vehicle when it comes to personal and business transport. Powered by the grid and with zero exhaust emissions, electric vehicles emit far less harmful gases that contribute to air pollution, respiratory issues and global warming.
The maths: A return journey from London to Manchester in a medium petrol car emits 119 kgs of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) compared to a medium electric car which emits 29 kgs of CO2e - a quarter of those of a petrol car.
The co-benefits of going electric include the fact that once you have the electric vehicle, the ‘fuel’ is cheaper, it needs less maintenance and should last longer than traditional ICE cars thanks to simpler drive trains and less moving parts.
Whilst the embodied emissions of a petrol or diesel car (8.5 tonnes of CO2e linked to its manufacture) are much lower than an electric car (14 tonnes), the fact that the electricity mix will continue to decarbonise, electric cars last longer (thanks to the fact they have less moving parts to wear out or go wrong) and are more efficient means their lifecycle emissions are significantly lower.
Lifecycle emissions of petrol and diesel cars (left) vs electric cars (right) from epa.gov
That said, if you can’t afford to go electric and your current vehicle is reliable (and not horribly inefficient), the lowest carbon option is to stick with what you have due to the embodied emissions of a new car.
3. Take the train
According to the European Environment Agency, the train emits 33% less emissions per kilometre per passenger than travelling by car and 80% less than flying.
The maths: The same return journey from London to Manchester by train emits just 23kgs of CO2e per person. A medium petrol car emits 119 kgs, so you need 5 people in the car to make it a better option.
There are other benefits of travelling by train too. If you’re travelling for business, it doesn’t have to be lost time as you can usually work on the train. If your trip is for leisure reasons, sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery or immerse yourself in a film or a good book without the stresses of driving or being herded through security to your gate at the airport.
4. Go by coach
The coach is an often forgotten form of public transport and people are often surprised that this can be the lowest carbon form of transport, particularly for solo travellers.
The maths: Taking the coach from London to Manchester and back only emits 18kgs of CO2e.
The biggest co-benefit is the cost. As well as being the lowest carbon it is often the cheapest way to travel. Why? Because it is so efficient. Less fuel is needed per person meaning the coach operator’s costs are lower.
5. Car share / car pooling
Car sharing to work, clubs, events, sporting fixtures etc is one of the cheapest ways to reduce your and your passengers’ carbon footprint and travel costs. The more people that (legally) travel in a vehicle together, the lower the emissions per person, the car parking fees, the fuel cost and, if everyone did this, there would be less traffic congestion too. There are social benefits as well and might even mean some people don’t need to own a car in the first place.
The maths: If our trip to Manchester in a medium petrol car was split between 4 people, the CO2e emissions per person would go down to 39 kgs from 119 kgs.
Blablacar is a great car sharing app. Their study shows carpooling saves more than 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 a year, whilst doubling the number of people travelling. This is an important point because, in the last 10 years, the average number of people per car journey has reduced, meaning more emissions per person and more traffic.
Car sharing saves fuel, emissions, money and reduces the amount of traffic on the roads
6. On yer bike!
Next we look at human powered travel and, apart from walking, it doesn’t get much greener than cycling. The co-benefits are fantastic too. Not only is it a cheaper and healthier way to get around, in cities like London, it is often the fastest way to get from A to B.
To encourage yourself and your colleagues to travel by bike, think about ways to remove friction and incentivise.
The UK’s cycle to work scheme can help individuals whose companies sign up to the scheme save 46% off the price of a new bike and equipment. They can also spread the cost thanks to a salary sacrifice programme. There are also many on-street electric bike rental schemes that you could incentivise employees to use like Lime, Human Forest, Dott and Santander Cycles. This article compares them up well.
Some other important considerations for employers wanting to encourage pedal powered commuting are the provision of secure bike parking and showering and changing facilities at the office.
Secure bike storage, lockers and showers will help encourage your employees to cycle to work.
7. Take your time
Slow travel generally refers to taking overground transport rather than flying. We’ve already talked about the carbon savings, but there are a whole host of other reasons to do this and employers can help facilitate it too.
Slow travel can reduce the stress and anxiety of travelling. It affords you time away from the office, an opportunity to stare out of the window of a bus or train and daydream - an important activity in and of itself that promotes creativity, wellbeing and generates the conditions to effectively problem-solve.
For us, slow travel means you drop the average distance you travel per day on your travels. For example, if you are heading to America, stick to just one coast, or if you are travelling to another country for work, why not add on a holiday in the country afterwards? That way, you save money as work has already paid for your flights and prevent the emissions associated with flying to another destination.
Businesses can help their team choose slow travel options by having a policy mandating train travel for journeys under 4 hours and / or offering extra paid holiday for employees choosing not to fly to their destination. Explore! is doing the latter already.
8. Create friction: lose the free parking spaces
We might be playing devil’s advocate here, but what if you gave up some (or all) of the car parking spaces your business currently has. Introducing fees and limits on parking at the workplace can also provide the right kind of friction for reducing car use. A study by the Lund University Centre for Sustainable Studies showed this could have the potential to reduce car commuting by up to 25%. It also provides you with an opportunity to communicate your policy and the reasons behind it.
9. Hire a car (if you need one)
Not owning a car offers huge carbon savings but, whether for work or pleasure, we might need personal transport from time to time which is when car hire comes into its own. Hire cars tend towards the more efficient end of the spectrum as they are usually newer models and well-maintained. They are in use for more time than private vehicles which sit on the drive or kerbside more often than they are driven. This may seem counterintuitive from an emissions perspective, but it is about optimising the embodied emissions in the manufacture of the vehicle. More and more hire cars are electric or hybrid too.
We hope you find these tips helpful. If you have any other ideas we’re all ears. Otherwise, if you have questions or want help understanding your company’s business travel carbon footprint, you know where we are.
