Sustainability in global corporate travel is a priority for the industry, according to a new report released by the GBTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). The Foundation’s report, The State of Climate Action in Business Travel—Global Industry Barometer 2023, found that 92 percent of respondents are making sustainability a top concern in their business, up from 89 percent in the 2022 report.
The report was unveiled as part of GBTA’s 2nd Sustainability Summit, which was held in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Notably, respondents from Asia Pacific and Latin America unanimously claim it’s a top priority, with Europe at 98 percent; North America was slightly lower than its global counterparts at 86 percent.
Moreover, travel partners are looking toward those who can offer solutions. And while a corporate green footprint is important for their reputation (84 percent), they are equally concerned about the impact on the environment (82 percent)—meaning it’s not just lip service. As such, GBTA sees sustainable practices as part of their long-term initiative to be leader for their global members.
Report Highlights: Sustainability
Additional key findings:
- Combining trips is seen as a tactic to maximize travel’s return on emissions: 74 percent of travel managers are encouraging (55 percent) or mandating (19 percent) their employees to combine multiple business trips into one.
- Travel managers are not always directly acting on the purpose of travel in their policies: 38 percent report they currently ask for justification for same-day business trips based on return on investment (ROI) and available alternatives.
- Developing consistent industry-wide standards is a priority for travel buyers.Asked to pick five ways in which the industry should accelerate sustainable change (out of 10 possible), a large majority of buyers point to harmonized standards on emissions measurement, accounting, and reporting (requested by 65 percent of buyers). Meanwhile, 60 percent of buyers requested that GBTA develop harmonized sustainability questions to be used in procurement.
- Financing the green transition continues to present the biggest challenge for both travel buyers and suppliers in decarbonizing their programs and operations, with “higher costs” ranking as the number one barrier two years in a row.
- Travel managers are being tasked with reducing emissions for their programs: More than half (54 percent) of respondents say their company has set either internal or public targets to reduce Scope 3 emissions, which include those from business travel. Another 23 percent are planning to set such reduction targets.
“Any kind of meaningful impact begins with the knowledge that change is necessary,” said GBTA Foundation Managing Director Delphine Millot. “Engaging business travelers and activating the point of sale to empower them to select more sustainable options will be critical—with corporate travel managers playing a leading role in driving that needed change. But to get there, as an industry we must unify standards and make the investments needed to decarbonize business travel.”
The full report is available for download here.
Visit gbtafoundation.org for more information.
[06.27.23]