They could be missing out, argues Roman Townsend of Belvera Partners
Hardly a week goes by without research into sustainability that we should all pay attention to. But the recent damming report from the UN’s IPCC was labeled a ‘code red’ for humanity.
For some years we’ve been discussing this topic in the wider travel space and progress has been made that, anecdotally at least, we can relate to as both professionals and consumers. But what about the B2B travel space?
The importance of the B2B travel space is undervalued by our sector. It is hard to find figures on what percentage it makes up of the travel economy, but its contribution is significant when you consider it is estimated that up to 90% of the carbon footprint of a company comes from its supply chain (almost certainly B2B suppliers).
With this in mind, at Belvera we conducted a detailed analysis of 350 B2B travel companies to see how they were performing with regards to sustainability reporting.
Sadly, the research found the B2B side of the industry is clearly not yet up to the standards of its B2C cousins. More than 80% of the companies we looked at didn’t have a sustainability report. Worryingly, almost 60% did not mention the topic at all on their websites.
Leaving aside the moral argument, should B2B travel companies be concerned about this topic? Are they missing out or benefiting economically by avoiding doing the right thing?
The moment when B2B travel CEOs could confidently say ‘sustainability is just a B2C thing’ has long since passed. They might not know it, but this failure to act is already hurting them. Banks are less likely to lend to them. B2B partners are screening out such suppliers and employees are beginning to vote with their feet too.
In our research, we heard from one company that missed out on an investment worth hundreds of millions of euros because they didn’t measure up to the potential investor’s sustainability expectations.
And unlike the B2C space – where doing the right thing no longer gets you brownie points – there is still opportunity to differentiate your B2B brand if this is done authentically.
My personal journey down the sustainability route came with becoming a parent. More recently, running my own business made me feel empowered to introduce changes.
But as a business person the eureka moment came when I noticed ‘Climate’ as one of the ten tabs at the top of the home page of the Financial Times’ website – fifth option along, right after ‘Markets’.
When audiences like theirs start to take this topic seriously, you know your company should too.
Let’s not forget that sustainability is not just about saving the environment, important as that is. Sustainability can also be about the social and governance aspects of how companies are run – how they treat their employees, suppliers, local communities or, indeed, investors.
With that in mind we´ll shortly be looking at how many of the top 350 B2B travel companies have a female or visible ethnic minority CEO or chairperson.
I think we can all guess the result, but having such data to hand will, I hope, be another motivation for self-reflection and change.
Step number one of overcoming life’s challenges is recognising you actually have a problem. Sadly, our research shows that many B2B travel companies still haven’t reached that phase. That is what worries me most.
Roman Townsend is managing director of Belvera Partners