Prepare for landing

The report outlines strategies for organizations to manage business air travel emissions, emphasizing the need for direct reductions over carbon offsets. It discusses the use of absolute and intensity targets, the importance of senior management leadership, and the role of decision-support tools in encouraging sustainable travel choices.

• Aviation has few decarbonization options compared to ground transport, making the avoidance of flying the only current method for significant emissions reduction.
• Business travel emissions are often excluded from corporate inventories because they are classified as "Scope 3" (corporate value chain) under the GHG Protocol, making their reporting optional.
• Organizations can set absolute targets (total CO2 equivalent reduction) or intensity targets (reduction relative to a metric like turnover). While intensity targets allow for easier comparison between organizations, they may be viewed as less ambitious than absolute targets.
• To avoid 'leakage' of emissions, organizations should consider including travel by non-employees, such as partners or attendees at meetings they arrange, rather than just employee travel.
• Direct emissions reductions should be prioritized over carbon offsets, as the latter can encourage a 'business-as-usual' approach while global goals require fossil fuel combustion to cease.
• Cultural and structural barriers to reducing air travel include the perception of frequent flying as a marker of professional success and the higher cost and complexity of booking international rail travel compared to flights.
• The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that remote engagement can successfully replace in-person meetings, particularly in knowledge-based sectors.

APA

Savvidou, G., Lambe, F., Green, J., & Zavala, J. (2020). Prepare for landing. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sei-report-prepare-landing-savvidou-sep-2020.pdf

Chicago

Savvidou, Georgia, Fiona Lambe, Jonathan Green, and Jacqueline Zavala. Prepare for landing. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2020. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sei-report-prepare-landing-savvidou-sep-2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Savvidou |first1=Georgia |last2=Lambe |first2=Fiona |last3=Green |first3=Jonathan |last4=Zavala |first4=Jacqueline |title=Prepare for landing |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=September 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sei-report-prepare-landing-savvidou-sep-2020.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{savvidou2020prepare, author = {Savvidou, Georgia and Lambe, Fiona and Green, Jonathan and Zavala, Jacqueline}, title = {{Prepare for landing}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sei-report-prepare-landing-savvidou-sep-2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }