{"id":36121,"date":"2026-10-16T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gbta.org\/?p=36121"},"modified":"2026-10-15T14:29:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T18:29:51","slug":"beyond-emissions-building-travel-programs-for-climate-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gbta.org\/es\/beyond-emissions-building-travel-programs-for-climate-resilience\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Emissions: Building Travel Programs for Climate Resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this feature series,\u202fGBTA’s Board of Directors<\/a><\/em>\u202fshare their perspectives on topics that matter most to members, the\u202findustry\u202fand the way forward for business travel. Today’s guest author is Ben Park, Direct Seat for GBTA Europe Region and Executive Director Travel & Sustainability at Parexel. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have participated in countless conversations about sustainability in business travel, and almost all of them come back to one topic: emissions reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look forward to continuing this conversation at the 2026 GBTA Sustainability Summit<\/a> in Vienna next month and discussing with many of you how we can put these ideas into practice, because reducing emissions must remain a long-term priority for our travel industry. As business travel leaders, we have a responsibility to support the transition to a lower-carbon future to ensure that global mobility can be sustained for future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But emission reduction is only one side of the equation; the other is climate resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge many travel programs face today is not only the carbon emissions associated with business travel but also the growing risk of climate-related disruptions which make business travel more difficult, expensive and less predictable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A warmer atmosphere intensifies many weather events, and wildfires, flooding, extreme heat and severe storms increasingly dominate headlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are already seeing the impact. Many organizations have experienced more climate-related disruption this year than they did just a few years ago. There is every reason to believe this trend will continue. For travel managers, these events are no longer occasional exceptions as become a recurring risk that requires strategic response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change is increasingly interconnected with business continuity planning. Travel managers have always balanced cost, traveler experience, compliance and risk. Climate resilience deserves a seat at the same table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many organizations have invested heavily in carbon reporting, emissions targets and sustainable travel policies. Those efforts should continue, but climate resilience should become the next component of a travel program\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evaluating suppliers should involve not only price, service and sustainability commitments, but also their ability to recover from climate-related disruptions. In return, this means strengthening duty of care programs, improving traveler communications and building greater flexibility into travel policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My simple challenge to our industry: move climate resilience from the sustainability agenda to an integrated business agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel programs that succeed over the next decade will not solely report the lowest emissions, but they will also be combining sustainability, resilience, traveler safety and business value into an integrated single strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ultimate objective is not just to reduce the impact of travel. It is also to ensure business travel remains safe, effective and available in an increasingly uncertain climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time to prepare is now.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this feature series,\u202fGBTA’s Board of Directors\u202fshare their perspectives on topics that matter most to members, the\u202findustry\u202fand the way forward for business travel. Today’s guest author is Ben Park, Direct Seat for GBTA Europe Region and Executive Director Travel & Sustainability at Parexel.  I have participated in countless conversations about sustainability in business travel, and…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"2473,828,2314,1191,2249,924","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1516,1554,280,1519],"tags":[48,49,675,1423,165,287,1489],"class_list":["post-36121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foundation","category-gbta-board","category-sustainability","category-sustainability-foundation","tag-business-travel","tag-gbta","tag-gbta-board","tag-gbta-board-of-directors","tag-gbta-foundation","tag-sustainability","tag-sustainability-summit"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Tara 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