American Express Global Business Travel is launching a new emissions-based carbon pricing platform designed to help clients to reduce their CO2 impact from business travel.

The initiative allows Amex GBT customers to choose a carbon calculation methodology which they can then use to apply either a flat or “dynamic” carbon fee to their employees’ air travel.

These fees will be made visible to travellers during the booking process and can also appear on their invoice, which the TMC said would help companies to inform staff about their carbon impact and corporate sustainability initiatives, as well as encouraging them to make more sustainable travel choices.

Amex GBT added that some clients already used carbon pricing to apply fees to their business travel, but this new technology would now allow them to track emissions from their flights and “funnel” investment towards sustainability projects.

The TMC said the money raised from carbon fees can be used to create a “self-sustaining” fund to pay for projects such as investing in alternative aviation fuels, electric vehicles, plus research and development.

John Sturino, Amex GBT’s SVP of product and engineering, said: “Carbon pricing is a proven mechanism that can help companies make progress towards their sustainability objectives.

“Our innovative software can now help customers place a price on carbon and direct investment toward lower-carbon solutions, empowering them to make more informed decisions and address their carbon footprint.”

The TMC said that clients had to decide on which carbon calculation methodology they wanted to use for this carbon pricing process. 

Amex GBT offers a range of calculations from different organisations, including IATA’s CO2 Connect, France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), and the UK’s Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)/ Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

One of the TMC’s clients, French pharma company Sanofi, has already used carbon pricing to “spread the cost” of its investment in alternative aviation fuel.

Lucian Alexandru, global procurement category head at Sanofi, added: “Emissions-based carbon pricing enables us to combine economics, sustainability and technology to strengthen our business travel programme and boost funding to invest in decarbonisation initiatives such as SAF.”

Nora Lovell Marchant, VP of global sustainability at Amex GBT, said that the carbon pricing of business travel could help to “shift” companies to towards “a more sustainable future”.

“Carbon pricing is imperative, but alone insufficient,” she said. “We need to combine carbon pricing with decarbonisation. Making carbon more expensive must be combined with making clean [travel] more affordable.”