BCD Travel turns sustainability into a competitive offer with SQUAKE Origin
Context
More and more corporate RFPs now carry explicit sustainability requirements, and BCD Travel, one of the world's largest travel management companies, felt that pressure directly in its sales pipeline. Deals were harder to win, and some were lost outright, when clients needed carbon reporting or reduction commitments the program couldn't yet deliver. Building that capability in-house would have meant assembling a dedicated team and methodology from scratch, a costly, multi-year undertaking with no guarantee of getting it right.
“Until now, our clients have had to spend significant time and energy identifying, selecting and deploying a range of sustainability providers that aren't easy to integrate together or into their programs. Along with SQUAKE and Advito, we decided to help by bringing what was once a fragmented set of features and suppliers together to simplify the process.”
Goal
BCD set out to close that gap once, for every client, rather than case by case: a single sustainability layer built into its agent frontends and online booking tools, so any customer, regardless of how far along their program is, gets consistent CO₂ visibility, target-setting, and reduction options without BCD's account teams needing to become carbon experts themselves.
Our Solution
One methodology, every touchpoint
SQUAKE powers the sustainability layer across BCD's point of sale, itineraries, invoices, and reporting with a single calculation methodology, closing the long-standing gap where CO₂ figures shown to a traveler at booking didn't match what showed up in the client's year-end report. Travelers see the carbon cost of each air, rail, hotel, and ground transport option as they book; travel managers set the policies behind those nudges centrally, once, for the whole program.
From point-of-sale nudge to CSRD-ready reporting
Beyond steering trip choices, the offering automates what used to require manual fee handling: point-of-sale and aggregated carbon tax allocation, SAF procurement, and CO₂ compensation certificates, alongside the budgeting, forecasting, and reporting clients need to comply with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). BCD's consulting arm, Advito, layers on strategy and change management for clients who want more than the standard toolset.
Outcome
A sustainability offer, not a sustainability gap
BCD now enters every conversation, tender or renewal, with a fully integrated sustainability offering instead of a patchwork of third-party point solutions to explain or apologize for. What was previously a reason clients pushed back or looked elsewhere becomes a reason to stay and expand, without BCD having to staff or build a carbon team of its own. The offering launched in pilot with Siemens ahead of a full rollout to BCD's client base.