Two arms of BCD Travel—the travel consultancy Advito and BCD Meetings & Events—announced a new carbon-emissions calculator that allows users to understand the environmental impact of their various meetings choices, including location, travel, menu, and merchandise.
Making the announcement at the Global Business Travel Association convention in San Diego on August 14, Olivier Benoit, principal and vice president, global practices and sales for Avito, pointed to two key strengths of the new tool: it’s comprehensive and certified. The methodology, called Global Analytics for Travel Emissions–4, addresses four major areas—air, rail, hotel, and ground. And GATE4, as it’s known, has received ISO series 14 certification, which means “the calculations are robust and reportable,” Benoit said.
To understand a meeting’s CO2 footprint, users enter information on an event’s location, how attendees will get there, menu choices, how food waste will be handled, plastic and paper usage, giveaways, use of videoconferencing, and more. Benoit noted that the system will consider the carbon intensity of the how a venue’s electricity is generated. For example, he said, the environmental impact of energy generation for, say, a Marriott hotel in San Diego could be very different than a Marriott in China.
Using the tool at the pre-event planning stage is meant to make planners more aware of the impact of their event design. “Eventually,” said Benoit, “we hope that thanks to this more accurate and ISO-certified tool that there will be more decisions made with a lower environmental impact for meetings and events.”
Clients will be able to subscribe to the service and use it on an unlimited basis or pay for a one-off event. While the tool is ready now, Benoit said the company hopes to have it available as an online self-service system in 2023.
