Carbon Reduction Program

Air and car travel has a significant environmental impact generally and is the largest category of environmental impact that Omni has as a remote-first consulting firm.  We won’t go into the well-established science here, but there is significant research suggesting that air travel and road travel have significant impacts on the environment.

As part of our environmental sustainability plan, we are taking a few steps to mitigate and offset the impact of our business travel that we hope may help others think about ways to reduce their climate footprint.  

Update Travel Policies

During business travel, whether local or beyond, we encourage all staff to be conscious of the environmental impact of their mode of transportation and recommend, whenever feasible, choosing lower-impact modes.  This can include:

• Using public transportation for local travel at your destination or to and from the airport, etc.
• Traveling by rail/train if feasible to get to your destination.
• If car travel is necessary, carpooling with colleagues.
• Finding lodging within walking distance of your primary destination or with proximity to public transit to minimize the need for local car trips

Our travel policy does not mean that our staff will no longer travel for business or go completely out of their way to follow these guidelines. However, using public transit or staying closer to our client destinations, for instance, are small but effective strategies to lower the environmental footprint of business travel and complete necessary trips in the most responsible manner possible.

Offset Your Carbon

Twice each year, we compile a report of our vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and air miles flown and purchase carbon offset credits to mitigate the impact of our travel. VMT is easily obtainable from our expense systems and we created a form for staff to fill out to report their air miles traveled. After tallying our miles, both road and air, we use an online calculator to purchase carbon offsets for that travel.  

While carbon offsets are not a silver bullet, when done well they are one way of minimizing impact until policy and technology solutions make travel more efficient.

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