GBTA Foundation and Travalyst Collaborate to Harmonize Frameworks for Sustainable Choices in Business Travel

Organizations enter agreement to foster alignment across the industry to help make better options available at scale for business travelers

The GBTA Foundation, the non-profit, cause-led arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization, and Travalyst, a not-for-profit organization which seeks to scale sustainability within the tourism industry, have joined forces to help tackle one of the biggest challenges in the uptake of sustainability efforts in the global business travel industry.

The two organizations have entered into a partnership agreement to collaborate on the development of a harmonized framework for sustainable travel. The partnership will bring more impact to sustainability efforts and help foster alignment across the business travel industry.

In a GBTA report − “The State of Sustainability in the Global Business Travel Industry” − on average, a third of industry and stakeholder respondents surveyed said fragmentation of standards was a main barrier for a sustainability transition in business travel − and 60% cited harmonized standards as a top facilitator of a positive future for the industry.

“Travalyst exists to help bring consistent and credible sustainability information to the mainstream, helping travelers everywhere make more informed choices. Nowhere is this more urgent than in the business travel sector, with corporate travelers rightly demanding better, clearer information to make – and for corporations to report on − lower impact decisions,” said Sally Davey, CEO, Travalyst. “Travalyst’s partnership with GBTA brings to bear the strengths and scale of each group to ensure business travelers are empowered to make the best decisions, for themselves and for the planet, every time they book.”

Davey added that this marks another step for Travalyst in extending its reach to encompass both leisure and now corporate travel across the industry by partnering with big companies and also major associations such as GBTA.

Delphine Millot, Senior Vice President, Sustainability, and Managing Director, GBTA Foundation said, “The lack of comparability and transparency on what’s considered a more sustainable business travel option is a real barrier to change. The GBTA Foundation has a key role to play to steer the full global business travel industry towards common sustainability frameworks and standards. This is fully aligned with Travalyst’s mission and we’re looking forward to working together with their existing efforts and model.”

According to Millot, the Foundation’s Sustainability Initiative aims to drive cross-industry collaboration among the users and providers of corporate travel services – including aviation, hospitality, ground transport, travel management and distribution – to support the deployment of solutions that help to manage and reduce carbon emissions from travel.

At GBTA’s 2nd GBTA Sustainability Summit taking place June 13th in Washington, D.C., Travalyst’s Head of Product and Partnerships, Tim Loonen, will be speaking on the topic of “Activating the Point of Sale: How to Nudge Travelers Towards More Sustainable Choices.” The one-day, high-level Summit event will bring together experts, industry and policy leaders to outline concrete solutions to manage the environmental impact of business travel. Additionally, Travalyst CEO Davey will moderate a Main Stage panel on August 14th at the 2023 GBTA Convention in Dallas, August 13-15.

At the Sustainability Summit, GBTA will also be unveiling its latest report “The State of Climate Action in Business Travel – Global Industry Barometer 2023” which will reveal industry perspectives around prioritizing harmonized standards for emissions measurement and reporting and sustainability criteria for supplier selection. For more information or to register to attend the GBTA Sustainability Summit, visit www.gbtafoundation.org.