Sustainable Corporate Travel in India: EV Cabs, Green Stays and Carbon Reporting

Ask most finance teams what their business travel cost last year, and they'll have a number within minutes. Ask what it emitted, and the room usually goes quiet. That gap is becoming harder to ignore as clients, investors and employees start asking the second question too.

The good news is that corporate travel sustainability doesn't start with expensive offsets or a total travel ban. For most companies, it comes down to four practical levers: cleaner ground transport, better hotel choices, smarter trip planning, and reliable carbon data. This guide walks through each one and how to put them to work, especially for travel in and out of India.

Why Sustainable Travel Is Moving Up the Agenda

Sustainability is now part of the standard business travel conversation. GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang noted that travel teams are working in a landscape shaped by "technology transformation, geopolitical factors and sustainability imperatives." In GBTA's January 2025 outlook poll, one-third of travel buyers expected more investment in planet-focused sustainable travel practices, rising to 55% in Asia-Pacific.

Progress is uneven, though. GBTA's 2025 Sustainability Acceleration Challenge found that the share of corporates buying sustainable aviation fuel certificates grew to 15%, up from 12% in 2024, but adoption is still low.

In India, reporting pressure is building through supply chains. Under SEBI's March 2025 revisions, the top 250 listed companies can voluntarily disclose value chain ESG information from FY 2025-26, with assessment or assurance voluntary from FY 2026-27. Even where it's voluntary, large clients are increasingly asking partners for sustainability data, and travel is one of the easier categories to measure.

Lever 1: Switching to EV Cabs

Ground transport is often the quickest place to make a visible change. Airport transfers, hotel-to-office runs and city meetings are short, predictable trips that suit electric vehicles well.

Where EVs Work Best

Based on how corporate trips typically run, EVs make the most sense for:

• Airport pickups and drops in major metros
• Daily office commutes for visiting staff
• Shuttle runs during conferences and offsites

Long intercity drives need more planning, since charging stops can add time. A mixed fleet approach, with EVs for city use and conventional cars for longer routes, is often more practical than an all-or-nothing switch.

Where Sustainability Meets Safety

Ground transport also sits at the centre of travel risk management. A greener cab still has to be safe. Check driver vetting, real-time trip tracking, and late-night protocols, particularly for employees travelling alone. The best ground transport choice is one that is both cleaner and reliable.

Lever 2: Choosing Greener Stays

Hotels are the second biggest piece of most travel programmes after flights. You don't need to restrict travellers to a short list of eco-certified properties overnight. Start by adding a few questions to your hotel selection:

• Does the property hold a recognised green building or sustainability certification?
• Does it track energy and water use, and will it share that data?
• Has it reduced single-use plastics in rooms and meeting spaces?
• Is it close enough to the client site to cut daily transfers?

That last point is easy to overlook. A hotel near the meeting venue can lower emissions and save travel time at once.

Lever 3: Smarter Corporate Travel Planning

The cleanest trip is sometimes the one you combine or don't take. Good corporate travel planning reduces emissions without making travel harder:

1. Combine meetings in the same city into a single trip.
2. Choose direct flights where possible, since take-offs and landings add fuel burn.
3. Consider rail for short routes where journey times are reasonable.
4. Ask whether an internal meeting really needs everyone on a plane.

The goal isn't to stop people travelling. It's to make sure each trip earns its footprint.

Lever 4: Carbon Reporting That Holds Up

Reporting is where many programmes stall. Under the GHG Protocol, business travel falls within Scope 3 emissions, which cover a company's value chain rather than its own operations. To report it credibly, you need consistent data, not perfect data.

What to Track

• Flights: origin, destination, cabin class, and distance
• Hotels: city, number of room nights, and property
• Ground transport: vehicle type (EV or fuel), and distance where available

How to Make It Usable

Pick one calculation method and stick with it year to year. Ask your travel partner what booking data they can share in a structured format, and how often. Comparable data across quarters matters more than a single impressive number.

Building a Simple Sustainable Travel Policy

You can introduce changes gradually. Here's a sequence we'd suggest:

1. Set a baseline. Pull last year's bookings to estimate your starting point.
2. Pick two quick wins. EV transfers in key cities and a hotel checklist are a sensible start.
3. Update the policy. Add guidance on direct flights, rail, and trip consolidation.
4. Report quarterly. Share progress with leadership in simple terms.
5. Review annually. Tighten targets once your data is consistent.

Where SKIL Travel Fits

For companies looking at corporate travel management India-wide, SKIL Travel offers several services that connect to these levers. According to its website, the company has introduced electric vehicles into its transportation service to help reduce carbon emissions. Its corporate cab arm, Cabi by SKIL, also launched a Pink Module in January 2025 for women-driven cabs focused on safety.

SKIL Travel also provides handpicked global accommodations, air ticketing, visa assistance, and MICE and events support, backed by a 24/7 team. If carbon reporting is a priority, ask any travel partner, including SKIL, exactly what booking data can be shared for your calculations before you sign.