climate and sustainability ‘A lot of regulation starts to bite now’


Sustainability is the second of the UK government’s five ‘missions’ – to ‘make Britain a clean energy superpower’ – and ە LV DOVR D SULRULW\ IRU WKH (8 He suggested: “We’re familiar with


regulation that sets rules and minimum thresholds. But with sustainability, a lot of regulation will try to generate demand. For example, the UK SAF Mandate aims to increase airlines’ use of SAF to create ە GHPDQG WR LQFHQWLYLVH 6$) SURGXFWLRQ


DRIVE FOR CERTIFICATION


Broader progress on sustainability “differs DFFRUGLQJ WR +HVNHWK ZKR ەURWFHV E\ said: “We’re seeing progress in respect of [reducing] scope one and two emissions that are directly controllable. The challenge ە LV ZLWK VFRSH WKUHH >RU LQGLUHFW@ HPLVVLRQV She noted: “A lot of scope three


emissions are based on estimated data and average emissions data for industries, and a lot of companies’ scope three emissions increased last year. It’s hard to tell what drove that, but some of it will be due to ە PRUH UHOLDEOH GDWD GULYLQJ DVVXPSWLRQV Hesketh added: “Some EU directives


are driving a shift on certification and, as anti-greenwashing rules come into force, we’ll see more of a drive for certification. The challenge with certification is that


FIGURE 34:


BARRIERS TO MORE SUSTAINABLE CORPORATE TRAVEL 75%


Higher costs Complexity


Lack of measuring standards Employee pushback Lack of data


Lack of financial incentives Competing priorities


Lack of executive buy-in Booking tool limitations Lack of regulatory clarity Stakeholder lack of interest


0 11%


10% 8%


10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Source: GBTA survey, November 2024 Base: 895 GBTA members 35% 30% 22% 19% 18% 14% 58% FIGURE 33:


SUSTAINABILITY INCLUDED IN CORPORATE TRAVEL


PROGRAMME


% of corporate travel buyers


Don’t know 3%


No, but plan to


27% Yes 44% No 26%


Source: GBTA survey, November 2024


Base: 895 GBTA members


a certificate is only as good as the work behind it, the credibility of the provider and the standards they certify against. Until we have clear standards, it’s going to be difficult to compare like for like. “The reporting landscape is starting to


show some standardisation through the ISSB and CSRD standards. Hopefully, EU anti-greenwashing rules will start to do the same for labelling and certification. We’re also seeing a convergence of assurance practitioners on the standards they use, and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) recently issued International Standard on Sustainability Assurance 5000, which should standardise the way practitioners provide assurance on sustainability information. There will be a period as firms assess how they implement the standard before we ە VHH D VXEVWDQWLDObQXPEHU XVLQJ LW


‘DECARBONISATION REQUIRES SYSTEMS CHANGE’


A LITTLE under half of GBTA members say sustainability is included in their corporate


travel programme (Figure 33). Cost remains a barrier to


more sustainable corporate travel (Figure 34)


ەQRLWDUREDOORF 7UDYHO “UHTXLUHV FURVV VHFWRU to reach its sustainability goals, according to Hawkings, who said: “Hopefully, as more information useful to decision-making becomes available, it will unlock new industries and new ways of helping the industry decarbonise. SAF is a perfect example. There is a lot of risk ە DURXQG 6$) LQYHVWPHQW DW SUHVHQW Keiran Stephens, Deloitte ESG advisory consultant, noted: “The US is arguably in a leading position when it comes to SAF development and there is good private sector and investment buy-in. We see a lot of players, including UK airlines, looking to source long-term SAF contracts from the US, so it may be shielded from any ە FKDQJLQJ SULRULWLHV RQ VXVWDLQDELOLW\ Hawkings noted: “Along with sustainability reporting regulations, there is also regulation in financial services – the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and UK Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) are trying to embed sustainability ە LQ LQYHVWPHQW GHFLVLRQV She added: “There are costs associated


20 Travel Weekly Insight Report 2025


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