Reducing Emissions While Keeping Energy Projects Moving in the Middle East

As energy organisations across the Middle East invest in clean power, hydrogen, carbon capture and wider decarbonisation initiatives, attention is increasingly turning to emissions beyond their core operations.

Business travel is one such area. From international project teams and specialist engineers to offshore crew rotations, moving people remains essential to keeping energy projects running. Yet as sustainability reporting and disclosure requirements evolve, organisations face growing pressure to understand and address the emissions associated with these journeys.

For many energy businesses, simply travelling less is not an option. The challenge is to identify where meaningful emissions reductions can be achieved without compromising operational requirements, workforce wellbeing or project delivery.

Starting with the data

Any credible travel emissions strategy begins with reliable data. Without a clear picture of the existing footprint, it is difficult to identify reduction opportunities, measure progress or build a tangible roadmap.

For many organisations, the results can be revealing. Travel programmes that appear relatively efficient on the surface may contain avoidable emissions and costs that only become apparent through detailed analysis.

Out-of-policy bookings, repeated journeys that could be consolidated and accommodation booked outside preferred supplier programmes can all contribute to unnecessary expenditure and emissions.

Better visibility also helps identify opportunities for lower-carbon transport, such as switching from air to rail on suitable journeys of up to four hours.

Crucially, this information provides the evidence needed to make informed decisions, rather than relying on assumptions about where reductions might be possible.

Recognising the realities of energy travel

For energy businesses, particularly those operating across remote and offshore locations, not all travel can be approached in the same way.

Crew rotations and specialist workforce movements are often business-critical, with limited flexibility around schedules and available suppliers. Attempting to apply blanket travel restrictions or emissions targets without considering these realities risks creating operational challenges.

A more effective approach distinguishes between essential crew movements and corporate travel, where opportunities to reduce frequency, combine journeys or select alternative transport may be more readily available.

Even where travel cannot be avoided, improvements are possible. Reviewing routes and suppliers at a regional or location-specific level can reveal opportunities to prioritise more efficient aircraft or direct connections where appropriate.

Traveller wellbeing must remain central to these decisions. Safe, reliable crew changes are fundamental to workforce resilience, and emissions reduction should complement rather than compromise that responsibility.

Turning insight into action

Once organisations understand their footprint, the next step is translating that information into practical changes.

This does not always require an immediate overhaul of travel policy. Encouraging travellers to consider lower-carbon alternatives, improving booking visibility and introducing targeted approval processes can all help influence behaviour.

Over time, organisations can introduce more structured measures, including carbon budgets that make emissions a visible consideration alongside financial expenditure.

Some businesses may also choose to apply an internal carbon price to travel, creating a dedicated fund that can support further sustainability investment, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

This is where specialist consultancy becomes particularly valuable. Beyond providing emissions reports, travel management partners can help identify short, medium and long-term reduction opportunities, assess available solutions and turn sustainability ambitions into achievable actions.

Addressing emissions that cannot be avoided

For energy organisations, some travel emissions will remain difficult to eliminate. Certain journeys are operationally essential, while aviation and other modes of transport still have a considerable distance to travel on their paths to net zero.

Investment in SAF offers one way to support aviation decarbonisation, while high-quality, independently verified carbon credits can provide a means of compensating for residual emissions.

However, these approaches serve different purposes and should not replace efforts to reduce emissions directly. SAF-related emissions claims require appropriate accounting and documentation, while carbon credits should be reported separately from reductions against science-based targets.

Working with credible providers and maintaining transparent, auditable records is essential to ensuring that sustainability investments can withstand scrutiny.

Ultimately, reducing travel emissions is not about choosing between sustainability and operational performance.

For energy companies across the Middle East, the opportunity lies in understanding where change is possible, making informed decisions and investing in credible solutions where emissions are harder to address.

With the right data, expertise and strategy, organisations can make meaningful progress on travel decarbonisation while continuing to move the people and expertise their projects depend on.