Sustainability In The Air How the GBTA aims to align corporate travel demand with aviation sustainability goals
In this episode, we speak with Suzanne Neufang, CEO of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), who shares how the world’s leading business travel association is transforming corporate travel to accelerate aviation decarbonisation through industry collaboration.
Neufang discusses:
- How sustainability priorities amongst travel managers more than doubled from 8% in 2023 to 19% in 2024, though the industry baseline remains at just 1.3 out of 5 on GBTA's sustainability maturity scale.
- Why sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is the most promising decarbonisation pathway for aviation today, and how corporate customers must play an active role in stimulating market demand through SAF certificate purchases.
- How GBTA's Sustainability Acceleration Challenge mobilised over 240 companies to benchmark their decarbonisation efforts and identify best practices.
- Why GBTA takes a pragmatic rather than activist approach, focusing on harmonising standards across the complex corporate travel ecosystem to eliminate inefficiencies.
- How artificial intelligence holds great promise for optimising travel decisions and emissions tracking, with potential for 10-15% emissions reductions through more efficient air routing alone.
- Why business travel serves as a catalyst for broader aviation sustainability, given that corporate travellers are the frequent flyers responsible for most airline profits and emissions.
Neufang also explains GBTA’s three-pronged strategy of bringing the industry together, rallying players around common standards, and building capacity at scale to move the entire travel industry towards more sustainable practices.
If you LOVED this episode, you’ll also love the conversation we had with Sally Davey, CEO of Travalyst, who shares how the not-for-profit coalition is transforming the travel industry through collaborative data initiatives. Check it out here.
Learn more about the startups, strategists, and sceptics working to close the gap between growth and green ambition in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume Two’. Click here to learn more.
Links & more:
Global Business Travel Association - GBTA
GBTA Sustainability Acceleration Challenge - GBTA Foundation
Business travel bounces back: spending forecast to hit record - Skift