• Home
• Responsibility
• CR Report 2004
• Caring for the environment
• Energy and climate impact
• Transport

Transport

We estimate that transport accounts for 7.9% of our total global warming impact. In 2004 we emitted approximately 209 million kilograms of CO₂ from transport.

Business air travel accounts for over half (54%) of our travel-related CO₂ emissions. In 2004, employees travelled a total of 771 million kilometres by plane - resulting in 114 million kg of CO₂ emissions. This includes transatlantic flights between the US and UK, and flights within the EU and US for routine business activities, as well as travel originating in the UK related to large group events such as sales conventions.

In 2004, our global sales fleet (excluding the UK) drove a total of 656 million kilometres on business travel - resulting in 82 million kg of CO₂.

In addition to business travel, we also transport products from our manufacturing plants to distributors. In 2004, GSK products were transported a total of 152 million kilometres - the majority (81%) by air freight. We estimate that the air freight resulted in 13.9 million kg of CO₂. We do not calculate CO₂ emissions from road, rail or sea freight transport because our central data collection system is not as robust in these areas and the impacts are small when compared to those of air freight transport.

We have "green travel plans" at a number of sites which encourage employees to reduce the environmental impact of their travel to work. For example, at GSK House in Brentford, the UK, privileged parking spaces are given to car-sharers and drivers of fuel efficient cars, buses run to and from the local train station, while changing rooms and showers are provided for cyclists as well as discounts for bicycle equipment and repairs.

We encourage employees to use video and teleconferencing where possible to reduce air travel. Virtual meeting software is available to employees for making presentations. Email and our internal messaging system are widely used, although it is difficult to quantify the impact of these on reducing business travel.

Year	Business travel by road	Business travel by air	Product freight by air
	(million kg CO2 equivalent)
2001	33.3	71.2	19.1
2002	81.0	91.5	12.8
2003	73.3	95.2	12.6
2004	82.0	114.0	13.9

Back to top