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Jessica Matthias, Global Sustainability Director, Sabre
Technology can play a pivotal role in helping the travel industry become more sustainable. Sabre is now displaying carbon emissions powered by the Travel Impact Model in their point-of-sale tools so that agencies and corporate travel bookers can make informed choices when they book flights.
In conversation with Brand TD, Jessica Matthias, Global Sustainability Director, Sabre shares more on actively reducing their environmental footprint.
Brand TD: What are the major initiatives that Sabre has taken to make travel more sustainable?
Jessica Matthias (JM): One of the main initiatives we have taken in the past year to drive more sustainable travel is through our partnership with Google. We’ve integrated the Travel Impact Model in our point-of-sale tools for travel agencies and corporations (Sabre Red 360 and GetThere) enabling us to display carbon emissions information of flights in the booking process. By providing clear, consistent and credible sustainability information, we empower those booking travel to make informed decisions.
We believe collaboration is key. We recently joined the Travalyst coalition, the initiative co-founded by Prince Harry to bring sustainability information to the mainstream to help people make better travel choices. Joining forces with Travalyst and our peers in the industry to help drive more sustainable travel decisions is an important step for Sabre.
Brand TD: Technology on its own is also said to leave carbon footprints. What are you doing as an organisation to offset the same?
JM: Technology absolutely does have an environmental impact, and we acknowledge our responsibility in this area. While offsets can be a part of the solution, our primary focus is on actively reducing our environmental footprint.
One key step we’ve taken is our strategic transition to Google Cloud. Last year we completed our migration, closing 17 data centers and moving more than 40,000 servers, 400,000 CPUs, and 50 petabytes of storage into the cloud. Cloud platforms offer significant advantages in terms of efficiency. Google, for example, prioritizes renewable energy sources for its data centers. This switch allows Sabre to benefit from the cloud’s inherent efficiencies while tapping into Google’s commitment to sustainable practices.
By adopting best practices and partnering with sustainability-focused providers like Google Cloud, we can make significant progress in reducing our emissions.
Brand TD: How are you helping travel agencies and operators make more mindful, sustainable decisions?
JM: One of the ways that we’re helping travel agencies and operators make more sustainable decisions is by displaying carbon emissions from flights in our point-of-sale tools. We’ve integrated Google’s Travel Impact Model into our Sabre Red 360 tool. This empowers travel agents to present travellers with the environmental impact of different travel options during the booking process. With clear information, travellers can make informed choices that align with their sustainability goals.
Brand TD: What kind of collaborations and research are you carrying on to find ways to save the planet?
JM: We believe collective action is key – no one entity can tackle this challenge alone. We’re actively involved in sustainability alliances such as Travalyst and are exploring other initiatives and collaborations to help the industry move towards a more sustainable future.
Brand TD: What are your in-house programs to save energy, recycle, reuse and be mindful about the planet.
JM: At Sabre, we have numerous in-house programs to save energy, recycle, reuse and reduce our environmental impact. These include using energy-efficient appliances and lighting systems, utilizing natural lighting, and implementing water conservation measures. We also recycle materials like printer toner cartridges and trash and encourage employees to consider the environmental impact of their actions at work. Our Southlake HQ is a good example of these initiatives, we use eco-friendly cleaning products, have motion-sensor lighting and faucets, and actively encourage recycling.
Our team members are also active volunteers and environmental causes are close to their hearts. Sabre team members can frequently be found out and about “plogging” (combining jogging with litter picking) and last year in APAC 100 Sabre team members collected 3,199 pieces of rubbish, weighing a total 200kg as part of our Give Together initiative. We have similar events planned this year and April is our dedicated Give Together month.
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