BITCI Joins the Climate Perks Community to Support Flight-Free Travel
Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) is proud to announce our membership of the #ClimatePerks Community, reinforcing our ongoing commitment to sustainability and climate action. Through this initiative, we are introducing a new employee benefit that supports flight-free leisure travel by offering additional paid leave for travel undertaken via lower-carbon modes such as ferry, train, or coach.
This policy is aligned with our mission to promote positive environmental and social impact and reflects our belief that organisations must lead by example when it comes to sustainability.
Why Support Flight-Free Travel?
While fewer than 20% of the global population has ever flown, aviation remains one of the fastest-growing sources of carbon emissions worldwide. As an organisation committed to advancing climate action, we recognise that reducing emissions from personal and work-related travel is an important part of achieving net-zero goals.
Research indicates that replacing even one return flight with a low-carbon alternative can significantly reduce an individual’s carbon footprint. For example, a flight from Dublin to Paris emits approximately 100kg of CO₂, while a ferry and train journey on the same route emits around 82% less.
The need for change is clear—and we believe employers have a unique opportunity to enable and accelerate that change.
Encouraging Behaviour Change Through Policy
BITCI’s Sustainable Holiday Travel Policy offers staff up to two additional paid days off per year to support flight-free holidays. These days are separate from annual leave and are intended to cover the extra time required when travelling by lower-carbon options such as ferry or train.
The policy applies to international travel (outside the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) where both outward and return journeys are completed without flying. It aims to encourage realistic, climate-friendly alternatives to short-haul flights, particularly across Europe.
Leave can be taken on travel days or the nearest working days. It’s available to employees with at least one year’s service, with pro-rata entitlements for part-time staff and those returning from family-related leave.
This initiative reflects our commitment to making sustainable choices easier and more achievable for our team.
A Cultural Shift in the Workplace
At BITCI, we believe that meaningful sustainability action is driven not only by organisational policies, but by a supportive culture. This initiative is about more than just travel—it’s about sparking conversations, rethinking norms, and creating space for more environmentally conscious choices.
We actively encourage employees to share their experiences of flight-free holidays—whether through team meetings, the staff newsletter, or social media. This kind of peer-to-peer learning helps to normalise slower, more sustainable ways of travelling and can play a powerful role in shifting behaviours across our organisation and beyond.
Looking Ahead
This policy marks an important step in our ongoing sustainability journey. While the initial focus is on incentivising international travel by sea and land, we will continue to explore ways to reduce the environmental impact of all forms of travel. Future updates may include support for low-carbon domestic travel and staycations, as well as new ideas to embed sustainability further into the everyday choices we make as an organisation.
We encourage other businesses to consider joining the Climate Perks community and to support their own employees in making climate-conscious decisions.
For more information about the Climate Perks initiative, visit their website here.
