If you’ve yet to establish your organization’s carbon reduction plan, now’s the time to do so. However, the task can be overwhelming. Where do you even get started?

Governments around the world are putting regulations in place to lower their countries’ carbon footprints. Many of these regulations apply to corporations and companies. They encourage businesses to take steps to reduce their emissions. They also then require businesses and organizations to provide proof that they actually did so.

In the past, we’ve talked a lot about this topic. We’ve covered what the Scope approach to emissions is all about. We’ve discussed how to make your business travel align with your carbon reduction plan. However, before you can approach any of these areas of concern? You have to actually get started and establish that carbon reduction plan.

After all, it’s something that more and more employees care about. According to the 2024 Business Travel Sustainability Survey from Business Travel News, more than half of survey respondents said they’re personally concerned about their company’s carbon footprint as it relates to travel. Still, about a third admitted that their company hasn’t established any carbon reduction targets.

Now’s the perfect time to begin establishing a carbon reduction plan. October 25 is World Sustainability Day. Take a moment to consider your organization’s carbon footprint, particularly as it relates to business travel. Then, put that plan in motion for a greener, more sustainable 2025. Here’s how to start.

Step 1: Determine Why You Want or Need to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

What’s the primary impetus behind your decision to reduce your company’s carbon footprint, whether it’s related to travel or otherwise?

You may have personal reasons why you want to reduce your carbon footprint. Climate change may be an issue that highly resonates with you personally. If that’s the case, you’re not alone. As mentioned above, over half (60%) of BTN’s sustainability survey respondents noted a personal concern regarding their company’s travel-related carbon footprint.

Or maybe you don’t quite care about the issue on a personal level. But you do see how it impacts your company. For that reason, maybe your reasons are purely based on ensuring your company uses carbon reduction to its benefit.

Additionally, maybe your reasoning is based solely on government regulation. Your country or state has decided that you need to reduce your carbon footprint and prove it. You want to comply accordingly.

According to the Business Travel News survey linked above, top drivers for many organizations around the world include the desire to comply with voluntary or government-required emissions reporting. Others cited this effort as a strategy for keeping and attracting talent.

Whatever the case may be for you specifically, start by defining your “why” for establishing a carbon reduction plan. From there, you can move on to the next step.

Step 2: Set Policies That Align with Your Want or Need

If you’ve defined the “why” behind your want or need to establish a carbon reduction plan, you can then set policies that align with that want or need. This effort will set your company apart from many others. Only 22% of BTNs’ survey respondents actually went so far as to change or create sustainability-focused policies, regardless of want or need.

If your why is entirely influenced by government regulations, then you’d set policies that merely ensure you are compliant with those regulations.

If your why is influenced more so by your company or personal beliefs, you might further fine-tune and tailor your policies so that they most benefit your company, or so that they align with your personal goals.

Step 3: Get Senior Management and Employees on Board

Once a carbon reduction plan is defined and policies are established, it’s time to get senior management and employees on board. Senior management can heavily influence your new policies’ success. The BTN survey found that, for nearly half of all respondents, senior management stressing sustainability’s importance was a huge reason for pursuing reduced business travel emissions at all.

For the former, this is easier to do if that senior management was involved in the creation of the carbon reduction plan and policies. Remember, even if you’re a corporate leader, it will be far easier to get your executive teams to buy into your carbon reduction plan if it also considers their beliefs surrounding the matter.

For the latter, clearly communicate the carbon reduction plan and policies. Also, communicate the “why” behind them. Don’t just give employees the “why” you established in Step 1, though. Also help them develop their own “why” and buy-in. Why should your why be their why? Why should carbon reduction matter to them?

Everyone in your organization will have a hand in whether or not your policies are successful. Your Travel Managers or Travel Arrangers will be choosing partnerships and travel arrangements that may or may not fall in line with your new policies. More broadly, all employees likewise will make choices that will ultimately impact your level of success.

In fact, some companies, according to Business Travel News, realize this to the point that they’re specifically looking for new hires who care about sustainability practices and policies in the workplace. Luckily, if you’re among them, studies have found that Gen Z and millennial employees are very much interested in organizational sustainability.

Step 4: Prioritize Partnerships and Collaborations That Support Your Carbon Reduction Plan

Lastly, as it applies to business travel specifically, work with your Travel Management Company (TMC) or on-staff Travel Arranger. Ensure that you’re partnered and collaborating with travel suppliers that share your commitment to carbon reduction. This is another action that will set your organization apart. According to the BTN survey, only 10% of organizations place a “high priority” on contracting with suppliers that align with their sustainability goals.

While not every travel brand is putting sustainability first, many are making the change. In the past, we’ve covered airlines, car rental companies and hotels that all are making great strides toward a more sustainable business travel landscape.

Need Help? JTB Business Travel is Here

While we’ve broken down the process of formulating a carbon reduction plan into four easy steps, we understand that, in reality, the process can look far more daunting. That’s where we can come in and help. Get in touch today to learn more—and if you’re not quite ready to talk, check out the JTB Business Travel Waypoint blog to find more resources related to all things sustainable business travel.