Solvay launches internal carbon price for company travel
Internal Travel Carbon Contribution initiative at Group level wants to encourage employees to make smart travel choices.
Solvay is rolling out a new initiative to track the company’s carbon travel footprint, raise funds to support Group sustainability projects and build awareness around responsible and sustainable travel. The initiative aims to highlight every employee’s individual carbon footprint.
Since 2019, Solvay has reduced its overall carbon usage linked to air and rail travel by nearly 70%, due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to the implementation of Solvay’s New Way of Working, where digital tools have made virtual visits easily accessible to all. The Group is now focused on sustaining these new behaviors and minimizing the company’s travel carbon footprint by scheduling fewer in-person meetings, reducing the number of international flights, suppressing one-day air trips and recommending switching from business to economy class or from air to rail when those alternatives exist. These measures are emphasized as a way to raise awareness about everyone's individual carbon footprint.
“We are proud to launch this initiative as we want every Solvay employee to be aware of their travel footprint and act as a responsible citizen”, said Hervé Tiberghien, Chief People Officer at Solvay. “Our aim is to keep our responsible travel practices to post-pandemic levels by teaching Solvay employees how they can reduce their own CO2 travel footprint by taking positive actions, such as traveling less or, when traveling, selecting options with a less adverse environmental impact.”
Tracking Solvay’s travel footprint will ultimately finance a fund to be used for sponsoring sustainability projects with a carbon-offset focus wherever feasible. Global business units will contribute a monetary amount based on the entity’s travel footprint calculated at €100 per ton of CO2. That amount will be charged to each entity and transferred to the Group Travel Carbon Contribution Fund.
“It’s all about providing the tools and encouraging people to be responsible travelers”, said Pascal Chalvon Demersay, Chief Sustainability Officer at Solvay. “This contribution fund is about striving toward United Nations sustainability goals and encouraging every employee to do their part to protect the planet as owners and citizens.”
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Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 21,000 employees in 63 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet roadmap crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering a better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of €10.1 billion in 2021. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels and Paris (SOLB). Learn more at www.solvay.com.
