Small travel changes, measurable sustainability gains

The client

This engineering business works across infrastructure, transport, energy, water, and the built environment. With an annual travel spend of around $8 million and a geographically dispersed workforce, corporate travel plays an important role in keeping projects moving and teams connected. Guided by its sustainability policy, this business focuses on embedding greener choices into everyday operations and decision-making.

The challenges

The organisation already had strong visibility over project-related travel, where site visits and in-person collaboration are often essential. These trips were well understood, well managed, and clearly justified.  

Where things became less clear was same-day, non-project internal travel. These trips were typically short, booked with good intent, and made up a relatively small slice of the overall corporate travel program. But when viewed collectively, their combined cost and carbon footprint hadn’t been clearly quantified.  

Without that visibility, it was difficult to answer some fundamental questions. Were these trips necessary? Could some be combined? Were there opportunities to shift certain meetings online, without impacting productivity or outcomes? 

Our approach

As part of their regular quarterly travel reviews, FCM’s Account Manager took a step back to look for opportunities to strengthen the program beyond day-to-day travel management. Acting as a strategic partner, they focused on how travel data could better support the organisation’s sustainability goals. 

Introducing a sustainability focused insight that singled out same-day, non-project internal air travel. This category was analysed separately from the wider program, quantifying both its estimated carbon impact using DEFRA methodology* and the associated fare costs.  

The findings were presented in a clear, concise visual that made the impact easy to understand at a glance. Instead of broad sustainability messaging, the business was given a practical view of one travel behaviour that could be addressed quickly and sensibly.  

This insight allowed teams to identify where trips could be combined, replaced with virtual meetings, or avoided altogether, without introducing friction or slowing decision-making.

Outcomes

The impact was immediate and measurable. Same-day, non-project internal travel emissions dropped from 2% of overall air travel emissions in one quarter to just 0.8% in the following period. These improvements were achieved without disrupting project delivery, client commitments, or team productivity. Instead, they were driven by small behaviour shifts guided by clear, relevant data. The initiative also helped translate sustainability goals into everyday action. Leaders gained visibility into a previously hidden area of the travel program and a repeatable way to surface similar opportunities in future reviews.

_{*The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) methodology uses emissions factors to quantify greenhouse gas emissions from activities like flights, accommodation, and ground transport.}