The travel schemes helping us reduce our environmental impact
No matter how we decide to travel, environmental responsibility often takes a back seat to convenience. We’re trying to change that at Bray Leino Events.
We’re on a mission to find schemes for sustainable travel that benefit our people and help us improve our sustainability performance. With many of us travelling the UK and worldwide, we’ve also created a new sustainable travel guide that helps us decide when travel is necessary and how best to do it.
By Orla Hennessy, Sustainability Administrator at Bray Leino Events.
Changing behaviours
Our Bristol office recently took part in the Big Bristol Travel Challenge, encouraging people to switch their commuting habits for active or sustainable travel. It was a great motivator as we competed against other business across the city – with one of us topping the table for most miles by bike in a week! Getting the bus or cycling to work also helped us save 40kg of CO2e… equivalent to the emissions of driving all the way from Bristol to Manchester!
Alongside other schemes like cycle to work and our electric car scheme, we’re part of the First Bus Commuter Travel Club, which grants our people discounted bus travel, and the Active Travel Champion scheme, which has made us the proud owner of a large Emergency Cycle Repair kit for the Bristol office. We are a fan of Train Hugger too; think Trainline, but they use your booking fee to plant trees.
On the job
We’re also changing behaviours to cut our carbon impact on the job. A huge project in Birmingham this year saw 80% of our team using public transport to get there. Taking the train meant they could work and travel if they needed to and LNER’s carbon calculator shows taking the train instead of car between Bristol and Birmingham saves 13kgCO2e per journey.
When it comes to getting on a flight for projects and site visits around the world – only economy will do. Compared to business flights, economy saves over half of the emissions associated. For example, London to New York in economy creates 256kgCO2e, but the same flight in business class creates more than double at 660kgCO2e. This is a stark reminder of how small changes to our habits can make travel more environmentally friendly.
Wider benefits
We’re trying to make sustainability one of our first thoughts when we consider going somewhere, providing our staff with helpful tips and tricks where we can, and our sustainable newsletter Small Change covers the benefits it can bring.
For instance, it’s better for our health. Active travel is noted to improve people’s mental health, well-being and productivity levels at work, not to mention the reduction in air pollution that benefits us all. (Sustrans).
Our own Eco Hero Challenge (pictured) took place throughout September, using the Eco Hero app to encourage active travel around dates like World Car Free Day. It’s seen us making the most of our commute to work and logging walks, runs and bike rides in our free time.
