Extending the scope of environmental management: The case of company-assisted travel in Britain

Abstract

European initiatives such as eco‒labelling and eco‒management and audit have encouraged a focus in company environmental policies on the environmental impacts directly associated with the production, distribution, use and disposal of products. Indirect effects, such as business‒related travel, have been given much less attention. The environmental consequences of company policies to include company cars, and other forms of assistance for car travel, in the remuneration packages of British managers are assessed. The need to target the travel miles generated by business activity is highlighted, and sources of resistance to policies to cut back on company cars are identified. Success in bringing company‒assisted travel within the orbit of company environmental policy, it is suggested, would not only bring immediate environmental benefits, but could also be significant in challenging aspects of organizational culture which hold back the development of sustainable business. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.