Employees refuse to pay for carbon cuts

Almost 60% of UK employees think their bosses should donate more of their profits to protect the environment, as new research reveals that staff racked up 42.6Mkm flying on business in 2005.


However, the research, produced by Portman Travel, reveals that 77% of employees are not prepared to make a contribution of their own to this cause.

Climate change organisation, CarbonNeutral Company, calculates that nearly 5.4M tonnes of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere and that it could cost as much as £65M to offset the CO2 emissions caused by UK employees flying abroad on business.

In response to this challenge, Portman Travel has launched the Portman Forest – a groundbreaking scheme designed to offer businesses and their employees the opportunity to combat greenhouse gases caused by their business travel.

The initiative will encourage their customers to offset their emissions generated by domestic and international travel by supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable forestry projects around the world.

Managing director, Graham Flack said: “Since 1983, the number of overseas visits by Britons has increased more than threefold to 66 million journeys a year. The rapid rise in international travel poses a threat to the environment.

“It is important that responsible organisations within our industry look at ways of reducing greenhouse gases caused by their operations. Our customers travelled nearly 900Mkm by air last year.”

The firm’s research also showed that more than a third (36%) of employees believe their employers show “no” or “little commitment” towards the environment, and 59% think that businesses should donate a higher proportion of their profits to its protection. Only 2% think businesses should contribute less to environmental causes.

Only 7% of staff believes that climate change is extremely important for company bosses, compared with company reputation (62%) and profits (58%).

For more information visit www.portmantravel.com

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