GBTA and the Industry Spark Dialogue on Sustainable Business Travel at Climate Week NYC

Sustainability takes center stage at Climate Week NYC, the largest annual climate event of its kind taking place September 22-29 – and it’s where the GBTA Foundation and industry leaders convened to discuss the future of business travel.

The GBTA Foundation and IHG Hotels & Resorts brought together some of travel’s biggest sustainability leaders at an evening event to spark dialogue about the decarbonization of business travel. In collaboration with co-hosts IDEO, Accenture, American Express Global Business Travel, Delta Air Lines and Hertz, the event, “Business Travel in the Climate Era,” challenged the 80+ attendees to explore tensions and collaborative approaches inherent in balancing the necessity of business travel with the imperative to reduce carbon emissions.

📸: @AndrewWerner

During a media breakfast and panel, Delphine Millot, Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Managing Director, GBTA Foundation, joined Jessica Matthias, Global Director of Sustainability, Sabre and Sally Davey, CEO, Travalyst. Discussion centered around the role of technology, collaboration and partnerships in enabling sustainable travel. Millot also shared insights about the GBTA Sustainability Acceleration Challenge currently underway.

“What unites us as an industry is the shared belief that continued success for global business travel is dependent on embedding sustainability in everything we do,” said Millot. “Our mission is to help shape that sustainable future. It can only be achieved by engaging the many voices of business travel, working collaboratively and taking action as our industry works towards achieving net zero by 2050.”

GBTA is attending several Climate Week sessions and meetings on topics including carbon removal, SAF, hotel food sustainability, transportation decarbonization, regenerative travel and sustainable workplaces.

With over 600 events and activities taking place, Climate Week NYC annually attracts global business leaders, policymakers and other stakeholders with the shared mission to drive transition, speed up progress and champion ongoing change.

Learn more about the GBTA Foundation’s Sustainability Initiative. Travel managers can participate in the Sustainability Acceleration Challenge by taking a maturity assessment by October 15th to benchmark their organization’s emissions reduction efforts while contributing to a global measurement initiative.

Industry Spotlight

GBTA Research
GBTA and Corporate Traveler Release Study Examining the SME Business Travel Landscape in the U.S.

GBTA and Corporate Traveler released a joint research report yesterday which offers a detailed look into the key trends, insights, and behaviors that are shaping the U.S. small and midsize enterprise (SME) business travel market in the U.S. Surveying nearly 300 business travelers from U.S.-based SMEs, the study reveals the top priorities and biggest challenges for companies when it comes to business travel, the most important factors when evaluating a travel management company (TMC), and more.

Key highlights from the research report include:

• Traveler safety was named by respondents (40%) as the number one priority, followed by cost savings (19%), and traveler experience and technology integration (each at 11%).
• The biggest pain point is the cost of travel (63%).
• Other issues include understanding the ROI and measuring success (38%), employee traveler tracking (37%), manual processes (37%), and the lack of data/reporting (35%). 
• The majority of survey respondents (71%) indicate their company is evaluating a TMC (71%), with the availability of travel (86%) being the most important factor.

Read the full announcement and access the report here.

Resources

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