Expedia® Corporate Travel Goes Carbon Neutral
Expedia® Corporate Travel Partners with TerraPass to Launch the First Global Carbon Offset Program for Corporate Travel
LONDON, PARIS, MUNICH, and BELLEVUE, Wash., March 7 /PRNewswire/ — Expedia® Corporate Travel will be the first global corporate travel agency to roll out a carbon offset program to its corporate travel customers. Expedia® Corporate Travel has partnered with TerraPass, the leading retailer of green house gas reduction projects, to offer environmentally-conscious businesses the ability to both calculate the amount of carbon dioxide their employees’ business travel creates and buy the corresponding amount of carbon offsets to balance it. The new program is available to Expedia® Corporate Travel customers globally. Expedia® Corporate Travel will also make its own travel program carbon neutral by the end of the year through the purchase of TerraPass carbon offsets.
Starting in April, Expedia® Corporate Travel customers can purchase TerraPass carbon offsets for a small fraction of the average cost of an airline ticket or a company’s total annual travel spend. Purchasing a TerraPass enables companies and individual travelers to sponsor measured, verified reductions in greenhouse gas emissions directly proportional to the emissions created by their airline flights. TerraPass proceeds fund clean energy projects, such as wind farms and innovative “cow power” methane capture plants on U.S. dairies.
“Expedia® Corporate Travel is dedicated to practicing ecologically responsible travel, and we are proud to extend environmentally conscious options like TerraPass carbon offsets to our customers around the globe,” said Jean-Pierre Remy, president of Expedia® Corporate Travel. “We are committed to making a positive impact on business travel, by implementing our own green travel policy, as well as through industry advocacy for and the promotion of green travel policies. We invite our customers to join us in this endeavor.”
Expedia® Corporate Travel customers can choose from five individual TerraPass products enabling travel managers to create corporate travel policies that allow individual travelers to purchase carbon offsets as they book, based on pounds of carbon dioxide offset and mileage. Customers may also opt to purchase an enterprise size Green Company package that will offset all emissions generated by the airline travel of their entire company over a given period of time.
Products Lbs of Carbon Miles Flown $ 1 Short Haul 1,102 2,500 6.99 2 Medium Haul 2,205 5,500 15.99 3 Long Haul 4,409 11,000 24.99 4 Traveler 17,637 45,000 76.99 5 Road Warrior 39,683 100,000 164.99 6 Green Company 385,805 1,000,000 1499.99
“We are pleased to partner with Expedia® Corporate Travel on the first program that provides businesses the opportunity to make their travel carbon neutral,” said Tom Arnold, chief environmental officer of TerraPass. “Expedia® Corporate Travel’s global presence provides an ideal platform to build an awareness of clean travel among business travelers, and TerraPass makes it simple to do something about it.”
“The voluntary market for greenhouse gas reductions has tremendous potential, and this is an innovative program that enables business travelers to reduce their greenhouse gas impact. This is a market we want to support by providing certainty for consumers through our verification process,” said Jennifer Martin, director of certification and analysis for the Center for Resource Solutions.
To signify a contribution to green travel, travelers who purchase TerraPass carbon offsets for short haul flights will receive a decal and travelers who purchase a higher tier TerraPass package will receive a luggage tag. Companies that adopt a green travel policy and buy an enterprise TerraPass package will receive a plaque, as well as luggage tags for all of their travelers.
All TerraPass sales and support of clean energy projects are independently audited by the Center for Resource Solutions, a San Francisco non-profit organization that runs market surveillance and certification programs in the green power industry.
About Expedia® Corporate Travel
Expedia® Corporate Travel is the No. 1 online corporate travel agency and fifth largest travel management company in the world. As part of Expedia, Inc., (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world’s leading online travel company, empowering business and leisure travelers with the tools and information they need to easily research, plan, book and experience travel, Expedia® Corporate Travel brings together the best of technology and corporate support in a single- source solution that drives down costs. Business travelers have access to specialized tools, while companies can take advantage of rich management and reporting features.
About TerraPass
TerraPass is the leading consumer retailer of greenhouse gas reduction programs in the U.S. Thousands of individuals and businesses use TerraPass to balance out the global warming impact of their flying and driving. Collectively, TerraPass members have funded the reduction of over 150 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. TerraPass funds clean energy and conservation projects throughout the U.S., including wind farms and biomass energy. All TerraPass greenhouse gas reductions are verified by an independent auditor, the non-profit Center for Resources Solutions, creator of the Green-e renewable energy certification program. For more information on projects TerraPass funds, visit http://www.terrapass.com/.
Expedia and the airplane logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Expedia® Corporate Travel
CONTACT: Jordan Rittenberry of Edelman for Expedia® Corporate Travel,
+1-312-233-1226, jordan.rittenberry@edelman.com; or Adam Stein of TerraPass,
+1-650-331-0078, adam@terrapass.com</br/></br/>
Web site: http://www.expediacorporate.com/
http://www.terrapass.com/ </br/>