I think one thing the Pandemic taught us is that a lot of this "essential" travel is hogwash. We were able to manage these meetings via zoom and other platforms without too much trouble. After the initial learning curve, things seemed to go pretty smoothly. I am wondering why my company and others are going back to the "old ways" of doing things now that Covid doesn't seem to be much of a threat. Maybe they can't stand the feeling of control they lost during the past two years, or maybe they have a stake in the oil industry.
In my area, people who commute for work think nothing of a 90-minute drive. Most of it within a 20-mile radius. Inching along at 3 miles an hour does much more harm to the environment than firing up the computer for a two-hour meeting via the internet.