Help your company tackle global warming
Alle jammern über globale Erwärmung, aber ist Ihre Firma bereit, etwas dagegen zu unternehmen? So können Sie als Sekretärin dazu beitragen, dass CO -Emissionen gesenkt werden.
Senior managers appear to pay little attention to global warming and companies have not yet seriously started to tackle the carbon emissions they generate through business travel, according to a global survey conducted by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and online travel management firm KDS. The new survey revealed that only one third of companies have travel policies that promote sustainable travel.
Asked to list their major travel concerns, ‘employment security’ came top with 81% saying it was ‘high priority’. Cost control’ was another ‘high priority’ item, with 77%. In contrast, 45% of respondents said ‘environmental sustainability’ was ‘low priority’.
But companies will be coming under increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions in all areas of their work ‘as a matter of financial self-interest’, says British environment secretary David Miliband.
What can you as a secretary do to help reduce carbon emissions?
Here are some ideas
1 Review your company’s travel policies and identify opportunities for greener travel. Tell your company travel department about your concerns and ask for
their cooperation.
2 Remind your boss that your company can improve its public image and possibly save money too by including environmental concerns in its travel policy.
3 Look into train travel as an alternative to flying or driving by car. If your boss has a Bahncard or if you book in advance, you can take advantage of special offers.
Convince your boss with these hard facts
If your boss takes the train from Hamburg to Cologne, he will be responsible for one sixth of the CO2 emissions he would have been responsible for if he had flown. Subtract the time travelling to and from the airport checking in and getting through security, he mayeven have more time at his disposal. And on the train he can spend the whole time reading, making phone calls or working with his laptop, things he can’t do when travelling to the airport and checking in.
CO2 emissions on a journey of 425 km
| plane | 161 g/pkm* |
| car | 143 g/pkm* |
| train | 26 g/pkm* |
*pkm = grams per person and kilometre
source: climnet.org