GBTA details efforts to decarbonise business travel

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) and its charitable arm, the GBTA Foundation, has revealed new developments, including a strategic partnership with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, in its effort to encourage the global business travel industry to reduce carbon emissions.

GBTA is a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, launched at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November 2021.

The Glasgow Declaration aims to build a pathway for climate action, aligning the sector with global commitments solutions to the many challenges facing businesses and destinations globally.

The association is also partnered with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and is set to attend the upcoming Sustainability Summit in Brussels.

Two hundred and thirty organisations have committed to the Glasgow Declaration, agreeing to cut emissions in half by 2030 and achieve Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050.

GBTA says it has also entered a strategic partnership with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance to enhance collaborative action to enable the hospitality industry.

A pillar for joint action will be to drive the uptake of a consistent approach to carbon measurement for the accommodation sector.

It also recognises the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative, the carbon calculation methodology developed by the Alliance, as a measurement included in GBTA’s Sustainability Toolkit.

The Toolkit is a guide for corporate travel managers to track and improve the environmental performance on their travel programmes.

Global Sustainability Summit

Additionally, GBTA will be hosting its first Global Sustainability Summit on 8 November 2022, in Brussels: focusing on Driving Action to Net Zero Business Travel.

The one-day event will bring together speakers, experts, and industry and policy leaders to outline concrete solutions to decarbonise business travel in alignment with the Paris Climate Goals.

It will also run concurrently with the 27th UN Climate Summit in Egypt.

Speakers include:

Walter Goetz, head of cabinet for EU Transport

Adina Vălean, commissioner for EU Transport

Brune Poirson, chief sustainability officer for Accor and former French secretary of state for the environment

Paul Abbott, CEO, American Express Global Business Travel

Glenn Mandziuk, CEO, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance

Kim Carnahan, head of the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance

Gabrielle Walker, founder and director of Valence Solutions and non-profit Rethinking Removals, will also talk about The Climate for Change and what a low carbon future looks like for business travel.

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