Sustainability with ROI

Sustainable options with a change in mode actually usually carry higher per-trip costs of 3-5%. For example, the train is a premium over most flights. Lower emission flights do not typically carry a premium.

Taking a total cost of ownership approach over the period of one year, customers typically experience a reduction in overall costs in the region of 25% due to:

1. Avoidance of unnecessary journeys which become shifted to virtual (as carbon measurement tools incentivises behaviour change by staff).
2. Combined journeys where staff members treat carbon as a KPI, which enables travellers to reprioritise journeys to meet more than one customer on the same trip.
3. Travellers tend to book earlier as they are incentivised to get on the lowest emission modes whilst availability is good and through other policy-led behavioral change such as incentives to choose lower-emission journeys (carrier / class changes).
4. Other cost impacts such as avoided carbon offset expenditures and alignment with ESG targets.

Case studies are available from customers who demonstrate these financial outcomes.

RouteZero's customer case studies cite -25% in travel costs (some customers achieved these savings with no reduction in the number of trips made or reduction in KMs travelled). Customers also cite lower emissions costs (£50-100/tonne CO2e at their shadow carbon price), offset purchases reduced by 25%, and improved ESG scores. Customers backed by Private Equity have reported well-integrated ESG can help outperform sector peers on margins by as much as 21%. Publicly traded customers cite access to lower cost capital through their sustainability progress and partnership with RZ. Indirect ROI includes reduced travel volume over time through more efficient meeting practices and improved employee time utilisation.

Historical client data indicate cost stabilisation or decline after an initial adjustment phase, driven by fewer unnecessary trips and greater reliance on lower-cost, lower-emission transport. ESG-linked financing and supplier incentives may reduce capital or procurement costs. Please get in touch for references as customers have made public statements entitled “Increasing Enterprise Value through Sustainability”, which directly references RouteZero's work and their financial performance.

Failure to integrate sustainability into business travel increases exposure to several risks: compliance breaches as global and regional disclosure mandates tighten; missed opportunities for preferential access to sustainable finance due to insufficient ESG data or credentials; potential carbon pricing liabilities as internal or market mechanisms expand; competitive disadvantage in talent acquisition and retention and supplier markets favouring responsible business; and diminished access to advantageous government or investor funding linked to robust environmental commitments.

Delayed action amplifies future costs and may require reactive, less efficient remediation under regulatory or reputational pressure. More generally, Bain & Company states that a 2-degree Celsius increase in global temperatures could cut $6 trillion from the value of the S&P 500, in addition to significant environmental and social consequences.