Smarter travel: how Foreign Affairs aims to achieve 40% less emissions by 2030

With the Travel Smart campaign, the sustainability program Mission Sustainable challenges the departments of Foreign Affairs (BZ) and the Dutch representations worldwide to critically examine their travel behavior.

Completely stopping flying is not realistic, but traveling less and more sustainably is. For example, by combining appointments abroad, traveling with smaller delegations, choosing economy class on long-haul flights, and traveling by train within Europe as much as possible.

At the end of 2025, Mission Sustainable launched a dashboard that shows how much CO₂ BZ emits from business travel. It shows quarterly the number of flights and train trips, the kilometers traveled, and the total CO₂ emissions of each directorate or post. This allows you to see travel patterns at a glance and where there is room for improvement.

The dashboard helps to better understand where emissions come from and to have conversations about it.

“The great thing about this dashboard is that for the first time we can really steer on behavior and results,” says Ilse Marsman, project leader sustainable travel at Mission Sustainable. “Not by controlling, but by providing insight into what works. Travel is part of our work; that doesn’t change, but we can choose smartly when and how. Small adjustments like flying premium economy instead of business class, better planning, or more frequent online meetings, make a big difference together.”

With the dashboard, each directorate and post has the tool to travel more consciously and work together on CO₂ reduction.

Inclusive Green Growth (IGG) – a department of Foreign Affairs – reduced its travel emissions by nearly 40% in the first half of this year, while the number of trips remained the same. IGG did this with a CO2 budget per department and an Excel file tracking future trips.

“A CO2 budget works like a financial budget,” says Ivo Walsmit, one of the driving forces in sustainable travel within IGG. “It makes choices visible, and is concrete and honest. For IGG this works well: you immediately see what is left and naturally plan smarter.”

The initial goal was 10% less emissions. Each department received its own budget, based on the average emissions per employee minus 10%. After 2 quarters there was already 38% less emissions, with the expectation that this trend will continue in the second half of the year. Remarkably, the number of trips remained the same. The biggest difference? More (premium) economy tickets were booked instead of business class.

“The power is that travel choices lie with the departments themselves,” says Ivo. “That’s where substantive considerations are also made. Everything is possible, including business class on night flights, as long as you consciously choose it and do not exceed the total budget. We steer on results, not rules.”

The approach worked: conversations about travel became more open, planning more thoughtful, and trips were combined more often. And all without complicated systems: with Excel, Travelpoint, and the CO2 dashboard you have enough to steer effectively. Ivo: “It’s really no rocket science.”

Tips from Ivo: “Calculate back to 1 budget per department. Let the management team steer on the budget and set a good example themselves. Plan ahead where possible: discuss travel annually and semi-annually. Be willing to make choices. Celebrate successes – at IGG we celebrated our milestone of 38% reduction with cake.”

Mission Sustainable is the sustainability program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the program, BZ contributes to the sustainability goals to which BZ encourages other governments, companies, and organizations. The motto is therefore ‘Walk our Talk’. Mission Sustainable focuses on 3 key areas: climate, circular economy, and social responsibility in the chain. To reduce CO₂ emissions, BZ uses the CO₂ Performance Ladder of the Foundation for Climate-Friendly Procurement and Entrepreneurship (SKAO). For more information about BZ’s progress on climate goals, see CO₂ emissions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.