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Travel

Searching for synergies when travelling

Objectives

Green Value indicator

Explanation

Project managers often travel to various meetings in order to monitor the project progress, discuss project activities, establish new contacts and meet stakeholders, present project achievements etc. As a result, tons of CO2 are emitted during these business trips just by one single person (taking the car or taxi to go to the airport, using the airplane, taking another taxi to reach the hotel etc.). Therefore, project managers, should be more aware of the consequences of their impact on the environment and start thinking differently.

One of the most crucial steps in order to minimize the degradation of the environment caused by work-related trips is searching and creating synergies between the project partners. Some examples include:

1) When partners need to meet in person to work on the project implementation and when they opt for a face-to-face meeting, they should take into consideration the destination that values sustainability the most. According to the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, European nations (Switzerland, France and Denmark) take the top slots as the world’s most sustainable nations. According to WWF’s vice president of travel, “Destinations that value their natural and cultural heritage elevate the quality of a traveller’s experience and support the livelihoods of those that work in the travel industry”.

2) Additionally, another way of minimizing the environmental impact caused by business trips is to “consider how you get there”. With air quality as the leading threat to public health, it is time to reconsider how we fly. Plane travel is often the only fast way of reaching your destination, but one of the easiest ways travellers can offset their carbon footprint is by selecting an eco-friendly airline. Of course, partners in a project should discuss at the very beginning where they will hold the meeting in order to minimize the distance covered by airplane. In general, it is recommended to use trains or buses but in the case of some countries (e.g., Cyprus), partners should propose holding the meeting in places that the majority can reach by terrestrial transport.)

3) Another interesting but quite complicated initiative for the managers is to combine multiple meetings in the same country for different projects, so that they reduce their traveling time, hence reducing CO2 emissions. But of course, this sounds incredibly difficult, since there are many different project managers dealing with different projects and consortiums have to be synchronized. The least that project managers can do is to try to combine their own trips when possible.

PROS/CONS of the action

Pros: Cons:

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Link to useful sources

Links to EU research into best practice when it comes to travelling: https://ec.europa.eu
https://ec.europa.eu/inea
https://trimis.ec.europa.eu
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