Later today, I will be happily flying to Colorado to go backpacking with my father over the weekend, followed by a week working from our Westminster facility. Then, it is on to Chicago before returning to San Fran. This very pleasant work/personal 10-day itinerary highlights the flexibility that modern air travel infrastructure affords, but it must be noted that there is an environmental downside to the ubiquitous nature of travel. You see, air travel is a highly carbon and resource intensive mode of travel. It takes a lot of energy to propel these massive apparatuses up to 500 miles an hour all over the globe. This article from the New York Times, Air Travel and Carbon on Increase in Europe, gets right to heart of the paradox between increased freedom to travel and the environmental cost.
The resource intense nature of air travel got me thinking about carbon guilt. I use the term to describe the feeling that comes over me when I am doing stuff that I know is particularly carbon intensive, for me frequent air travel is the most common. This sense of guilt often leads to me thinking about how carbon emissions get monetized. Who is responsible for the emissions on today's trip? My initial gut reaction is that I bear the lion's share and I don't think there is much debate on that front. However, I don't entirely control a bunch of variables that impact the amount carbon that result from those actions, such as the speed of the plane in the air or how full it is.
Part of the reason I am able to make the upcoming trip stems from the telecommuting nature of my job. Does this mean that Avaya bears some of the CO2 cost of the trip? After all, the only reason I was able to take this trip is that I can telecommute just as effectively from my apartment. Now, that seems like a ridiculous notion of carbon accounting to me, but there is certainly a possible extension in corporate carbon accounting, at least in theory. In my example, it is pretty clear to me that I should bear that responsibility and cost. But, I don't see any easy way around the complexity of responsibility.
For me (and I emphasize that this is my personal view), the answer to the issue of guilt and cost is to tax and/or cap and trade with a global carbon price at the emission level and let the costs spread throughout the global economy.
Looking forward: traveling greener
We really do live in an amazing time when comes to travel access and cost, when travel around the world is relatively common, attainable and affordable for so many more people than every before (looking a bit more broadly than the last 12 months). This increased opportunity for travel has certainly been taken advantage of, probably even fostered by, the business sector. In that vein, I wanted to offer some examples from our own experience at Avaya of how companies can reduce their travel, and reduce that carbon guilt.
Here at Avaya, we have embarked on a several programs in place to drive down travel cost, and environmental impact. Obviously, the motive for these programs has been to decrease our expenditures. But, we have certainly attempted to understand the environmental savings that can, or have, resulted from these policies. The biggest has been a travel freeze for non-essential trips, which have been implemented throughout much of the corporate world.
Another form of shifting travel to lower impact modes is getting them into the digital realm. I am very comfortable recommending this shift to any company out there. Even the basic tools for a telecommuter can be used to substitute many meetings, once people are used to that mode of operating. You would be surprised at how productive you can be without the hassle of travel, all that cost in time which comes from getting around can be spent much more positively. Just in the last couple of days, I have hosted or attended meetings in the digital realm that would have taken place in London, our headquarters and Washington, to name a just a few, all with very positive results.
Is that enough to assuage carbon guilt? No, but it is a start and has to be part of the larger transition to lower resource use and abating carbon emissions.
Posted 8 Jul 2010 at 04:06 PM