ACTE and Mexicana Airlines Partner with Climate Care to Reinforce Commitment to Sustainability

1/16/2009 - Reinforcing its commitment to sustainability, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and Mexicana Airlines, in partnership with Climate Care, offset 54 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the association’s Latin America Education Conference in Mexico City, October 29-30, 2008.

“Reducing our environmental impact is a top priority at ACTE, and has been since 2004,” Susan Gurley, ACTE Executive Director, said. “ACTE continually incorporates environmentally-friendly practices into our global conferences and throughout our regional offices. We remain committed to taking a proactive stance on our CSR charter, and reducing carbon emissions at our events. We are grateful to companies such as Mexicana Airlines who support our efforts and share our vision.”

"Mexicana’s CSR program is defined by an action plan with the objective to be profitable, yet also to help the environment,” said Adolfo Crespo, Senior Vice President Customer Service, Mexicana Airlines. “Several years ago, we participated in a process of evaluation for CSR which has allowed us to identify areas of opportunity, and to harmonize our efforts in accordance with Mexicana’s Code of Business Conduct. Offsetting ACTE’s Latin American Education Conference is one of those efforts.”

Mexicana Airlines underwrote the cost of offsetting emissions, which included measuring and balancing out all the emissions created by delegate travel to and from the conference. ACTE and Mexicana Airlines engaged a third party offsetting provider, Climate Care, to provide this service.

Following the Latin America Education Conference, ACTE and Mexicana evaluated investment in projects around the world that save equivalent amounts of CO2 emitted by the conference. These projects benefit local communities directly through solar and hydro schemes, improvement of health and creation of jobs, forestry projects, etc.

Since 2004, ACTE has engaged in numerous global CSR initiatives, including:
• The ACTE/KDS Survey on the impact of CSR in the business travel industry (now in its fourth year
• Instituting, in 2006, an Environmental Considerations RFP document for green meetings
• Partnering with Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD), a major German transport and environmental organization, on its Green Travel Project
• Hosting carbon-low global conferences in partnership with Marriott and British Airways
• Global Symposium at the ACTE Asia-Pacific Education Conference in August 2008 on Mainstreaming CSR in Business Travel Management
• Partnering with The CarbonNeutral Company to provide a travel carbon calculator to members to measure their emissions
• White paper, Carbon Neutrality – An integral part of the corporate travel supply-chain, based on the results of an ACTE global survey
• Support of the United Nations Global Compact
• Member of the UNEP International Taskforce on Sustainable Tourism Development
• Partnering with international organizations such as International Office of Migration and MTV Exit Europe Foundation to end exploitation and trafficking of women and children
• Serving on the Green Meetings & Events initiative, led by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

ACTE incorporates environmentally-friendly practices into its global conferences and throughout its regional offices, and remains committed to reducing carbon emissions at all events. Twice a year, ACTE gives its CSR Award, the first of its kind in the industry, to those business travel executives who incorporate eco-sensitive practices into their travel programs.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) represents the global business travel industry through its international advocacy efforts, executive level educational programs, and independent industry research. ACTE's membership consists of senior travel industry executives from 82 countries representing the €463 billion business travel industry. With the support of sponsors from every major segment of the business travel industry, ACTE develops and delivers educational programs in key business centers throughout the world. ACTE has representation in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and the United States.

For more information, go to www.acte.org.



Contact:
kbrannigan@acte.org