BCD Travel achieves EcoVadis Platinum rating for fifth year

by: Felicity Cousins | September 26, 2024

UK: BCD Travel has achieved the Platinum rating from the EcoVadis sustainability assessment for the fifth consecutive year.

According to the travel management company (TMC) this means it maintains its position in the top 1 per cent of more than 130,000 assessed companies in more than 180 countries across 220 industries. 

The TMC has also been rated as ‘Leader’, the highest category, for EcoVadis Carbon Management Level, which forms part of the assessment. 

Olivia Ruggles-Brise, BCD’s vice president of Sustainability said: “This recognition reflects our efforts to continuously advance our sustainability performance and demonstrates our commitment to promoting transparency throughout our value chain.”

The EcoVadis assessment considers sustainability practices in environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement – four key areas that are continuing to grow in importance for corporations, their employees, and the world as a whole.

The assessment methodology is based on international standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative, the United Nations Global Compact and ISO 26000.

Stephan Baars, BCD’s CEO added: “The renewed Platinum rating is a very meaningful recognition for us, demonstrating how committed our employees are. Quite simply, taking consistent action on sustainability and achieving progress year after year is the right thing to do.”

BCD’s 2024 Sustainability Report highlights its progress over the past year including: Obtaining EcoVadis Platinum year after year since 2020, achieving a 74 per cent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions between 2016 and 2023, measuring full Scope 3 emissions (including business travel, employee commutes, home working, and purchased goods and services), investing in renewable electricity across majority-owned markets, aiming to be 100 per cent renewable globally by 2030 and supporting 37 Making a Difference projects that directly benefit young people across the world.

Last year BCD Travel released its global 2024 travel trend outlook noting hotel programmes will be more sustainably focussed.

The fourth edition of the quarterly Travel Market Report offers travel managers and buyers insights on economic prospects, key risks, projected prices business travel, as well as sustainable travel trends. Read more below.

BCD research shows impact of sustainability on hotel programmes

In June this year the travel management company conducted research which explored trends and priorities in corporate travel, which found less than half of travel policies included sustainable travel.

Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash