GTM to become Carbon Negative - a pledge

At some stage, the pandemic will be over. And, as it recovers, the world's economy will face a dichotomy: how to rebuild wealth, while reducing environmental impact.

Nations, businesses and individuals are setting themselves the task of revivifying their economies. But we all need to do so in a way that controls, contains and curtails the effect economic activities have on the environment. We cannot afford to move from a health pandemic to an environmental catastrophe.

Businesses will have to return, quickly, to travel. Increased travel will cause atmospheric carbon to increase. So mitigation needs to be put in place, as soon as possible and with long-term, sustainable impact.

That's why Global Travel Management has launched the Carbon Offset Programme, enabling business travellers to offset their business travel carbon emissions by reforestation.

But what are we - as a business inextricably linked to every aspect of business travel - doing to ensure we're leading the way?

I have taken a pledge to make Global Travel Management a 'carbon negative' business. We will measure our carbon output. Not just from business travel, but through every operational aspect of our business.

We will carry out a regular audit of the carbon emissions from every operational aspect of the business and calculate the number of trees required to offset the resulting atmospheric carbon by planting trees through the the Global Travel Management Carbon Offset Programme.

The trees will sequester the equivalent level of carbon through the first ten years of their lifecycle. But the trees will continue to grow, absorbing more carbon, over 150 years or more.

We may be the first travel management company in the world to make a pledge to become carbon negative through every aspect of the business. But I hope others will join us on this journey.