What does going the extra mile mean to you?

Always travelling to be together in person? Or making an impact from wherever you are?

Being together in person with clients and colleagues for moments that matter will always be important. 

Yet, as we work together build a more sustainable world, 'going the extra mile’ includes re-imagining how, when and where we collaborate.

Deloitte’s climate targets include reaching net-zero emissions by 2040 alongside our Clause Zero commitment to working sustainably with clients. So we’re asking our people to unite around a challenge to ‘make every mile matter’.

In practice that means re-thinking travel norms and evolving working practices, including looking for opportunities to take fewer journeys and travel more sustainably, where we can. 

And also remembering that balancing in-person, hybrid and virtual connections can help for clients by contributing to their sustainability goals as well as our own. 

By leading, learning and sharing our experiences, we're helping to build confidence that change is possible, and preparing to work more sustainably well before 2040 arrives.

Building a sustainable future demands challenging established norms across every sector, and business travel is no exception. 

Like the global shift towards clean, abundant renewable energy, this transformation will require time, effort and imaginative solutions.

Working closely with like-minded clients, Deloitte UK’s chief disrupter Ed Greig is leading efforts to move our firm beyond the video calls we all rely on, actively exploring immersive technology to elevate collaboration. 

From virtual reality headsets to innovative tech that creates portal-like links between physical spaces, we are testing and learning what different immersive methods can offer.

“The idea is to understand, design and establish the sustainable ways of working that can serve businesses now and well into the future, and enable our people and clients to be early adopters,” says Ed. 

In the coming months and years, we envisage incorporating immersive collaboration options in the wider conversations we have clients at the start of projects about how we’ll work together.

Beyond the tech, we’re encouraging our people to fundamentally re-think the travel norms that were so profoundly challenged during the pandemic.

It was then, as we adopted widespread hybrid working, that we discovered we could actually increase client satisfaction ratings by embracing new ways of collaborating.

"Few would have predicted in January 2020 that by 2026, over a quarter of the UK workforce would be hybrid working," Ed continues. 

"Now, reaching net-zero by 2040 is the imperative - and our experience puts us in a strong position to champion evolved ways of working and show how they can really work.”

One of our firm’s most significant net-zero challenges lies in the fact that a third of our UK emissions in 2025 were generated by business travel. 

Re-thinking and strategically adjusting how we work is our direct response to this challenge.

“We’ve been on a journey since 2011 to become more sustainable as an organisation, and have significantly reduced our operational emissions,” says Deloitte’s UK head of sustainability, Stuart West. 

“Achieving our industry-leading 2040 net-zero target requires a step-change, integrating sustainability into everything we do to maintain credible progress towards our goal. 

“With Deloitte’s business travel emissions contributing to our carbon footprint as well as that of our clients, we’re tackling the sustainable project delivery challenge together. 

“Clients are asking us to challenge their assumptions, proposing new ways of working that thoughtfully balance face-to-face, hybrid and virtual connections in support of our respective net-zero objectives.”

For example, a relationship built on trust, shared sustainability ambitions, and open dialogue about when travel is truly necessary has opened the way for re-thinking travel norms with one client. 

This has led to choosing virtual approaches over flying long distances for short trips, demonstrating a tangible shift. 

Other strategic adjustments include leveraging Deloitte's global network and deploying regional teams to support projects in their local time zones, wherever possible, to significantly cut down on long-haul travel.

“We and our clients have important sustainability targets to meet and depend on one another to achieve them,” Stuart continues.

“As with most things, progress starts with a conversation.” 

Supported by expert guidance and planning tools, we’re empowering our people and our clients to make conscious decisions. 

Strategies include the deliberate planning 'moments that matter' for key activities, consciously taking fewer journeys, and arranging multi-purpose trips to maximise efficiency.

From saving client expenses on travel and accommodation to optimising once-routine travel time for enhanced productivity and well-being, encouraging more deliberate travel can also deliver substantial benefits beyond our core sustainability commitments.

To support this shift operationally, we are championing sustainable business travel practices that balance our firm’s growth ambitions with our profound responsibility to the environment.  

They include in-depth travel data analysis to help reduce emissions, AI-supported user experiences, and collaborative partnerships with transport and accommodation providers to help us offer options aligned with our sustainable values, while also making sure we are meeting the needs of our clients. 

Get in touch

Stuart West
UK Head of Sustainability
spwest@deloitte.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7303 6720