Press Release
For Immediate Release
8 October 2008
RESULTS OF THE ACTE VCD GREEN BUSINESS TRAVEL PROJECT SURVEY ANNOUNCED AT DUSSELDORF BUSINESS TRAVEL SHOW
Associations partner environmentally friendly business travel guidelines
Alexandria, Va. --
The results of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ (ACTE) and Verkehrsclub Deutschland's (VCD: A major transport and environmental organization in Germany) joint Green Business Travel Survey Project were announced at the recent Business Travel Show, 24-25 September in Dusseldorf, Germany. The results of the survey were used to create guidelines for environmentally-friendly business travel processes and alternatives to business travel.
The VCD Green Business Travel Project is supported by the German Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry for the Environment. ACTE partnered with VCD on the project at the beginning of 2008. Other partners are B.A.U.M. e.V. VDR and the travel magazine DMM.
The survey was given to select small- and medium-sized companies to identify the lack of information and optimization potentials for implementing a green business travel initiative.
“ACTE is pleased to have had the opportunity to support VCD and to be an active stakeholder in the Green Business Travel Project,” said Brian Donnelly, ACTE Board Member and Regional Director, EMEA, FCm Travel Solutions. “We hope that these guidelines will serve as a model for other global organisations who hold environmental concerns as an important, and necessary, component of an effective business travel program.”
“VCD thanks ACTE for their considerable contribution and expertise on the Green Business Travel Project,” Anja Hänel, VCD Project Director, said. “With the guidelines developed with ACTE, businesses can show that having a positive impact on the environment, and staying true to their bottom line, is not mutually exclusive.”
The Green Business Travel Project provides companies, and the public sector, with a guideline toolkit on the ecological aspects of planning and taking business trips. Checklists and a cost calculator identify those areas in which travel practices can be made more environmentally-friendly, as well as enable them to estimate expenses. In addition, a variety of alternatives are suggested such as avoidance, shifting transport, ecological optimization and compensation.
The toolkit contains practical green measures that can be taken by a company in the areas of organization and administration, fleet management, choosing means of transportation and accommodation. The toolkit can be downloaded in German and in English at www.vcd.org/geschaeftsreisen_leitfaden.html.
ACTE will continue to commit itself, now and in the future, to promoting the economic prosperity of the business travel industry in conjunction with environmental protection.
For more information on ACTE and its CSR initiatives, please go to www.acte.org/initiatives/CSR.php.
About ACTE:
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) represents the global business travel industry through its international advocacy efforts, executive level educational programs, and independent industry research. ACTE's membership consists of senior travel industry executives from more than 50 countries representing the €463 billion business travel industry. With the support of sponsors from every major segment of the business travel industry, ACTE develops and delivers educational programs in key business centers throughout the world. ACTE has representation in Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, South Africa, and the United States. For more information on ACTE, please go to www.acte.org.
ABOUT VCD:
Verkehrsclub Deutschland (Transport Club Germany – Association) is an environmental organization working towards environmentally friendly and socially sustainable mobility. The current focus on climate change and the environment has brought to the fore the necessity of changing our ways, particularly in the area of transportation, if we are to reduce negative environmental impacts. Therefore, interest has increased in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the qualitative aspects of business travel, not only economic efficiency. For more information on VCD, please go to www.vcd.org/geschaeftsreisen. Press contact: Daniel Kluge, Fon +49(0)30/280351-12, E-Mail [email protected].
For more information, contact:
Debbie Flynn
CEO
Brighter Group
The Pod, London's Vertical Gateway
Bridges Wharf, Battersea
London SW11 3BE England
T: 020 7326 9880
F: 020 7326 9890
E: [email protected]
W: www.brightergroup.com