Business Travel Sustainability Shows Incremental Progress Despite Challenging Headwinds, GBTA Foundation Finds

VIENNA – Companies worldwide continue to make progress in managing business travel more sustainably, even as economic uncertainty and competing corporate priorities put pressure on sustainability programs, according to new findings from the GBTA Foundation’s Sustainability Acceleration Challenge.

The 2026 global benchmark, which analyzes data submitted by 204 companies across 28 countries, shows the average travel program maturity score for sustainability efforts increased to 1.5 in 2026, from 1.4 in 2025 and 1.3 in 2024. This marks a third consecutive year of incremental progress on the Challenge’s 0-to-5 scale, from “no action” to “leading practice.” (Since its launch in 2024, a total of 540 unique companies have taken part in the Challenge, representing more than $36 billion in combined business travel spend.)

Progress was strongest in sustainable procurement and decarbonization – including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) purchases – while emissions tracking and sustainable travel decision-making remained broadly flat. Regionally, Asia Pacific recorded the strongest gains and Europe rebounded, while the Americas lost ground overall.

Based on the Challenge results, the GBTA Foundation also announced its 2026 Sustainability Acceleration Award recipients, recognizing organizations demonstrating leadership and progress in sustainable business travel. The results and awards were unveiled today at the GBTA Sustainability Summit, held in conjunction with the GBTA + VDR + ABTA Conference 2026 in Vienna, November 2-4. Under the theme, “From Strategy to Scale,” the one-day Summit brought together industry leaders and practitioners to explore how organizations can scale effective practices across the travel ecosystem.

Three consecutive years of progress show that sustainable business travel is becoming more embedded in how companies manage their programs, even in a difficult operating environment. But incremental progress isn't enough. The next challenge is to scale the solutions that can deliver measurable emissions reductions, from procurement and traveler choices to sustainable aviation fuel.

Delphine Millot, Senior Vice President, Advocacy & Sustainability, and Managing Director of the GBTA Foundation

Sustainable Travel Progress Continues, Led by Procurement and Decarbonization

Compared with 2025, this year’s benchmark shows adoption of sustainable business travel practices generally increased, although progress varied significantly across different areas of travel management.

Key findings include:

• Sustainable travel policies edge forward, while technology adoption remains flat.  Sustainable Travel Decisions | 1.3 to 1.3 (flat)

  • The share of companies embedding sustainability in their travel policies increased from 60% to 62%, while employee engagement rose from 39% to 41%. Use of sustainability features in booking tools remained unchanged at 60%. This shows steady progress on sustainable travel policies, while AI-enabled booking tools designed to support more sustainable booking decisions have yet to reach broader adoption.

• Companies continue to track emissions while seeking validation of their targets. Emissions Tracking, Target-Setting & Reporting | 2.3 to 2.3 (flat)

  • Travel emissions tracking remained at 71% and target-setting at 25%, while Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validation of Scope 3 targets increased from 29% to 33%. The findings suggest that companies with established climate commitments continue to pursue greater rigor despite challenges around science-based target setting.

• Sustainability is becoming more embedded in supplier selection and contracting. Sustainable Procurement | Score: 1.5 to 1.6 (up)

  • More companies are selecting suppliers based on climate criteria (38% to 41%) and embedding sustainability requirements in contracts (32% to 39%). Meanwhile, reliance on sustainability questions in RFPs declined from 61% to 57%, suggesting companies may be drawing sustainability information from a broader range of sources.

• Companies expand investment in market-based measures that reduce travel emissions. Decarbonization | Score: 0.7 to 0.8 (up)

  • Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) investment rose from 20% to 22%, inclusion of Electric Vehicles in 2030 planning from 31% to 33%, and carbon compensation initiatives from 25% to 32%. The official recognition of SAF certificates as a valid mechanism for addressing business travel emissions, which finally happened last June, is expected to further catalyze corporate investment in SAF.

Asia Pacific Records Strongest Gains as Europe Rebounds

• APAC recorded the largest regional gain, rising from 1.3 to 2.1, driven by broader adoption of foundational practices such as Emissions Tracking, Target-Setting, & Reporting (1.8 to 2.9) and Sustainable Procurement (1.4 to 2.2), alongside growing use of Sustainable Travel Behaviors (1.4 to 2.0) and Decarbonization Investments (0.8 to 1.4).

  • The gains are consistent with a region where sustainable travel practices are moving quickly from emerging to more established.

• Progress in Europe is back on track. Europe rose from 1.4 to 1.7, with stronger Emissions Tracking, Target-Setting, & Reporting (2.1 to 2.5) and Sustainable Procurement (1.6 to 2.0)

  • This renewed momentum comes against a backdrop of continued regulatory and corporate focus on emissions measurement and sustainable procurement across Europe.

• The Americas lost ground overall, despite decarbonization investment improvement. The regional score declined from 0.9 to 0.7, driven primarily by a decrease in Emissions Tracking, Target-Setting, & Reporting (1.5 to 0.9), while Decarbonization Investments (0.3 to 0.4) was the only category to improve.

  • The results come amid a more uneven policy and corporate environment for sustainability, but continued progress on Decarbonization Investments shows action has not stopped even while strategies shift.​​​​​​​

2026 Acceleration Awards Recognize Leaders Across All Regions

The GBTA Foundation also announced its 2026 Sustainability Acceleration Award recipients and 30 leaderboard companies, recognizing organizations for sustainability leadership and progress in their business travel programs. Winners were determined based on the Acceleration Challenge scores and reviewed by GBTA Foundation Sustainability Leaders.

The 2026 Acceleration Award recipients are*:

• Global Sustainability Leader: PwC - India

• Regional Sustainability Leaders:

• PwC (APAC) – India

• BDO (Europe) - UK

• University of California (North America) - USA

• Transformational Impact Leader: Sopra Steria SE - Europe

• Emerging Sustainability Leader: The Lumiere Consultancy - APAC

Industry Sustainability Leaders:

• PwC (Consulting) – India

• BDO (Finance) - UK

• Airbus (Manufacturing) – Global

• Parexel (Pharmaceuticals) – Global

• University of California (Public Sector) – USA

• Ingka Group AB (Retail) – Global

• Autodesk (Technology) – Global

It is encouraging to see sustainable business travel gaining momentum across APAC and globally. For us, progress means continuing to embed sustainability into everyday travel decisions and finding practical ways to reduce impact while supporting the needs of our business. We’re proud to be part of a growing community working to accelerate that progress.

Amit Kumar Nayak, EA Administrative Business Partner at PwC India

The full 2026 Sustainability Acceleration Challenge findings, interactive industry dashboard, Acceleration Award winners and leaderboards are available at  https://gbtafoundation.org/planet/sustainability/gbta-sustainability-acceleration-challenge/#leading.

Turning Findings and Progress Into Action

The GBTA Foundation continues to work with the business travel industry to translate sustainability commitments into measurable action. The GBTA Sustainability Initiative – made possible by the support of the Foundation’s Sustainability Partners – provides travel programs with year-round research, tools and connections that turn sustainability commitments into measurable results.

In 2027, that work will include the GBTA Sustainability Stage held for the first time at the GBTA APAC Conference in Singapore, June 1-2, as well as continued work through the GBTA Sustainable Procurement Standards, GBTA SAF Corporate Connect and Sustainable Travel Management course.

For more information on how the Foundation is building a greener future for business travel, visit GBTAFoundation.org or contact [email protected].

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