18th July 2008

Top UN scientist points to benefits of conferencing technologies

Businesses need to invest greater sums into remote conferencing technology and become more selective over what events th. . .

<p>Businesses need to invest greater sums into remote conferencing technology and become more selective over what events they allow their employees to attend, a leading United Nations scientist has stated. </p><p>Speaking to a group of cross-party British MPs by a video link, Dr Rajendra Pachauri explained that the environmental impact of business travel now needs to be properly addressed. </p><p>One way of limiting the carbon footprint of the corporate conferencing industry is to substitute travelling to international events with greater investment in audio, video and web conferencing technologies. </p><p>"A focused effort to shift business travel for conferences and meetings of all types to video-based communication would be of great benefit in reducing and controlling the growth of emissions from aviation," Dr Pachauri said. </p><p>Presently, the burgeoning conferencing technology sector is worth around £4 billion a year across the globe, with this expected to increase to £5 billion by 2012 as businesses look to reduce their environmental damage and cut back on overheads as the economic climate grows increasingly tough. <img alt="ADNFCR-1753-ID-18691865-ADNFCR" src="http://feeds.directnews.co.uk/feedtrack/justcopyright.gif?feedid=1753&it..." /></p>

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