Dive Brief:
- The Global Business Travel Association released its 2023 State of Climate Action in Business Travel report, tracking sustainability efforts in the nearly $800 billion global business travel industry.
- The report was conducted by the association’s charitable arm, the GBTA Foundation, in April and May of this year. Results compile responses from 863 business travel professionals worldwide.
- The study found 92% of business travel professionals say that sustainability is a priority for their organization. But the industry will need to ramp up the speed and scale of decarbonization efforts in order to reach net zero by 2050, a goal set forth in the United Nations’ Paris Agreement.
Dive Insight:
GBTA’s report noted that while “increasing numbers of travel purchases and providers are concerned about sustainability,” their efforts are hindered by a lack of measurement and accounting standards for emissions, as well as a lack of transparent information related to energy use. 65% of travel buyers surveyed noted a need for “harmonized” standards on emissions measurement, account and reporting.
In the hotel sector, those standards are underway. The report noted over 60% of hotels are planning and implementing carbon reduction measures, and over 40% measure their own carbon emissions, citing findings from Greenview and the World Travel and Tourism Council’s 2022 Green Lodging Trends Report.
The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance is also working on improvements to its Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative, which helps hotels calculate the carbon footprint of stays and meetings, the report noted.
GBTA’s report also found that 59% of travel suppliers in the hospitality sector have dedicated sustainability teams, which is less than airlines (90%) but more than travel management companies (58%), ground transportation companies (55%) and online booking technologies (50%).
Among companies that integrate sustainability considerations into their business travel, 44% encourage business travelers to stay in responsible or sustainable hotels, though just 9% mandate it.
GBTA has previously estimated that global spending on business travel will reach $1.87 trillion by 2028, and emissions from business travel make up a significant portion of overall emissions for many companies
