FCM Adds Carbon Offsetting Program as Part of Sustainability Push

FCM will launch a new carbon offsetting program in partnership with sustainability consultancy South Pole and plans to offset all global staff travel retroactive to 2019, the travel management company said Tuesday.

The program will enable FCM clients to mitigate the carbon emissions generated by their corporate travel and meet some sustainability targets, according to FCM. 

Under the program, CO2 emissions data can be reported monthly or quarterly, and clients subsequently can choose from among 12 climate action projects to offset those emissions, with options including forestry conservation and restoration and community energy and water programs. The offsetting price for each project ranges from US$3.70 to US$15 per metric ton of CO2 equivalent emitted, and clients can select up to four projects to fit their budget, geographic area and preferred impact categories, FCM said. 

The initiative is a centerpiece of FCM’s larger push to make sustainability a “core pillar” of its customer offerings as corporate travel resumes in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Marcus Eklund, global managing director for FCM. 

“Sustainability has moved higher up our customers’ business travel agenda, despite the impact of Covid-19,” according to Eklund. “In fact, after the travel bans of 2020 enabled companies to reduce their carbon footprint from travel significantly, many are not only re-emphasizing their overall environmental objectives post-Covid, they’re making them an integral part of travel policies and RFPs.”

To serve clients’ heightened focus on sustainability, FCM plans to incorporate companywide and individual traveler-level emissions data into the redesigned booking and travel management platform it currently has in the works. Future plans call for the platform’s sustainability dashboard to display carbon credits reporting for each client and how emissions translate into offsetting credits and projects.

FCM earlier this year announced the new platform in conjunction with a corporate rebranding initiative, but details thus far have remained scarce. One aspect that recently emerged is that the TMC will retire the brand of its Sam AI-based mobile travel assistant app, transitioning Sam’s functionality under FCM’s core brand, where it will serve as a “digital ‘avatar,’ providing live chat and real-time assistance across all of the platform’s channels,” according to an FCM press release.