Five leading U.K. companies have saved an average of £2.4m (US $3.76 million) over two years through a WWF program to reduce business flights.
These firms, which WWF declined to name, cut flights by over 40 percent, reducing emissions by 3,600 tonnes CO2. Meanwhile, nine firms in the first year of the scheme have made savings of £1.5m (US $2.35 million) and 1,500 tonnes of CO2, after they managed to decrease flights by an average of 19 percent.
The campaign group's One in Five Challenge, which sets organizations a goal of cutting business flights by 20 percent within five years, counts Lloyds TSB, Sky and Marks and Spencer among its 12 members.
According to WWF's latest update, the firms involved in the scheme, which represent over 300,000 employees, have so far cut a cumulative total of 74,000 flights, saved £21m (US $32.87 million) and reduced their emissions by over 26,000 tonnes of CO2.
WWF said the cuts have been achieved by helping the companies question the need for travel, including flights in corporate carbon reporting, and making use of alternatives, such as rail and video conferencing.
In the report published last week, the companies outline how these lower carbon travel options are also improving efficiency and productivity by ensuring employees spend more time in the office, enabling quicker decision making and improving collaboration.
"Less flying and more virtual meetings are actually helping companies to work better, faster and more efficiently," David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF-U.K. writes in a foreword to the report.
"At a time when there are loud voices telling us that we need more airport expansion in order to fuel economic growth, the experience of the One in Five Challengers tells a different story -- one that relies on flying less, not more, in order to be successful."
This article originally appeared at BusinessGreen.com and is reprinted with permission.
Passenger image via Shutterstock.