The current state of play

Sustainability and carbon reporting in business travel is alive and well in 2025, according to a BTN Intelligence survey of 198 business travel buyers located predominantly in North America and Europe. Geopolitical uncertainty, particularly related to US President Donald Trump's return to the White House, has seen some companies pull back from their net zero commitments but sustainability is still important, and not just for travel buyers based in Europe, as is often touted. 

The BTN Intelligence survey, conducted between April and July, reveals that 61.1 per cent of organisations have set overall carbon reduction targets. Organisations with travel managers based in Europe (67.2 per cent) are more likely to have set such targets than those in North America (56.2 per cent).

BUSINESS TRAVEL IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Although the majority of organisations setting overall emissions reduction targets is high, the proportion of those that have set specific targets to reduce business travel emissions – categorised under Scope 3.6 of the GHG Protocol, which sets global accounting standards for carbon emissions – is much lower, at 37 per cent. Again, there is a disparity between Europe and North America.

Some 44.6 per cent of Europe-based travel buyers have set some sort of emission target for business travel, compared with 28.9 per cent of buyers based in North America. Diving deeper into these figures, 18.7 per cent of buyers globally have set targets for business travel generally while 7.1 per cent have set targets but only for air travel. One in ten (10.6 per cent) have targets for travel but the buyer is unsure of the specifics, suggesting there needs to be better communication between sustainability and travel teams within organisations. 

REGULATION RULES THE ROOST

More than half of buyers (52 per cent) cite compliance with regulation such as the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive as a reason for pursuing business travel emission reductions – the most common response among respondents.

Pressure to reduce emissions frequently comes from the top, our survey found. Just under a third of organisations (31.4 per cent) say that senior management have stressed the importance of reducing business travel emissions. Around a fifth of buyers (20.4 per cent) say clients are asking for this.

Given the current status of legislation around the world, it comes as no surprise that there are significant differences depending on the location of the travel buyer. In Europe, 73.8 per cent say they have business travel targets because of legislation such as CSRD; in North America, this figure is 36.4 per cent.

Europe-based organisations are also more likely than North American ones (49.2 per cent versus 33.9 per cent) to be pursuing a strategy to reduce business travel emissions even when it is not legislation that is compelling them to do so. In North America, it is more likely that a leader committed to sustainability is the driver for an emissions reduction strategy (33.1 per cent against 26.2 per cent in Europe).

THE CALL OF CSRD

Despite changes being approved earlier this year that delay some CSRD reporting requirements, 35 per cent of respondents said their company would comply with it this year. Unsurprisingly, the figure was higher among European buyers (41.7 per cent) than North American respondents (26.6 per cent). The rollout of CSRD reporting requirements is staggered and, although it is a European directive, it will ultimately apply to some overseas companies with operations in the EU.

TAKING IT PERSONALLY

Despite the watering down of sustainability commitments at a government level, the majority of buyers say they are personally concerned about the carbon emissions associated with their organisation's business travel activity. In Europe, this figure is 63.5 per cent, while for North America-based buyers it is 55 per cent. This personal concern among North America-based buyers is particularly striking given the backdrop to the survey.

STANDARDS SLIPPING

Our survey also reveals there is a need for more standardisation in the sector. Three-fifths of buyers said that their organisations were not part of an accreditation or certification scheme. Among those that have adopted or aligned to a scheme, the non-profit Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is the most popular, used by around a quarter (26 per cent) of respondents, while the EcoVadis programme is used by 19 per cent.

POLITICS COME INTO PLAY

On 10 January 2025, America’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) announced that the total number of confirmed weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion was 27, second only to 2023 when there were 28. The events included hurricanes, floods, drought and wildfires.

On 20 January 2025, Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term as president. Throughout his campaign and in his inaugural address, the President repeatedly called on America to “Drill, baby, drill”. This was no pep talk for the country’s dentists.

Just over two months later, on 8 April, the President issued an executive order on energy in which he ordered “the removal of all illegitimate impediments to… domestic energy resources” such as “burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’…policies”.

Each time climate change is mentioned in the order, it is surrounded by quote marks, indicating the president’s belief that climate change is an expensive hoax. Since Trump’s election, the NCEI has cancelled its Billion Dollar Disaster reporting initiative.

Trump’s election delivered a body blow to sustainability and there has been a very public withdrawal of corporate support in the US for sustainability initiatives and this has been particularly evident in the banking sector.

In December 2024 and January 2025, the biggest six US banks – JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs – announced they were leaving the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). NZBA, of which Citigroup was a founder member, is a UN-backed initiative supporting banks to lead on climate mitigation.

This has led to repercussions elsewhere. In July 2025, HSBC announced it would also leave the Alliance, which was expected by many. In HSBC’s 2024 annual report released in February 2025, the bank said that progress in reducing emissions in the scope 3 supply chain component was proving slower than anticipated. “We currently expect a 40 per cent emissions reduction across our operations, travel and supply chain by 2030.” It has now pushed out the deadline to achieve net zero to 2050.

While engagement with sustainability programmes may have slowed in the US, there has not been a total U-turn. 

American Express Global Business Travel's head of sustainability, Nora Lovell Marchant, says: “The SAF Coalition [of which Amex GBT is a key member] was instrumental in getting a tax incentive for sustainable aviation fuels inserted into the Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden administration. Now under the Trump administration… the tax credit has been included in the One Big Beautiful Bill (BBB).”

The BBB is Trump’s blockbuster legislation package. While true that support for SAF production remains included, the credit has been reduced from $1.75 per gallon to $1.

THE EUROPEAN VIEW

Elsewhere, the ripples from Trump’s election continue to spread. In April this year, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of delaying the ongoing implementation of Europe’s CSRD.

When it was first mooted, the CSRD was expected to apply to around 50,000 companies when fully implemented: those based in Europe with turnover of more than €50 million, €25 million in assets and/or 250 or more employees, as well as non-EU companies with significant revenue and a presence in Europe.  

In April, the EU approved the Omnibus Sustainability Package which has watered down the compliance requirements of CSRD. Large companies which were due to have to start reporting in 2026 now do not have to until 2028. EU-listed SMEs now do not have to report until 2029, two years later than originally planned. 

The result is that only 7,000 companies are now required to report, even fewer than than the 11,000 companies that were required to report under the legislation that the CSRD replaces, the Non-Financial  Reporting Directive (NFRD). 

The stated goal of the delay is to “simplify  EU legislation” but many believe the changes came as a result of Donald Trump’s second coming.

CORPORATES UNDETERRED

Global clinical research organisation Parexel is one organisation which remains committed to sustainability. “While any dilution of regulatory frameworks like CSRD is concerning, sustainability is no longer just a compliance issue, it’s a strategic imperative,” said Benjamin Park, the company’s executive director for travel & sustainability.

“Reducing carbon emissions from business travel aligns with our values, commitment to environmental responsibility, and ability to contribute to global climate goals. While scope 3.6 [emission relating to business travel] may represent a smaller share of our total emissions, it is highly visible and directly actionable, making it a key area for engagement with employees and customers.”

Like many companies with meaningful sustainability plans, Parexel has adopted SBTi targets and sees no reason to pull back from these. “Our commitment to reducing emissions from business travel is embedded in our sustainability strategy and despite recent changes in reporting requirements, our 2030 science-based targets remain unchanged,” says Park. “Sustainability efforts within the company are driven by both purpose and long-term value creation – not solely by regulatory compliance.”

Adam Braun, CEO of carbon reporting and analysis platform Clarasight, says he has had consistent feedback from corporate travel leaders in the US. “Essentially, they are not changing course, they are just speaking about it differently or more quietly,” he says. 

“Enterprises look at things over longer time horizons and they know that driving transformation and change often takes many years. There's an acknowledgement that the current US administration, which holds a lot of power, is not a fan of promoting your climate accomplishments. From what we hear, they are still committed to the goals, but they're just not speaking about it as loudly.”

Pippa Ganderton, product director for travel management company ATPI's sustainable travel and events solutions, Halo, says: “It's almost as if nobody wants to upset Donald Trump, so they are not going to be as open or openly pursing their sustainability strategies. I wouldn’t say it's all US organisations though. Outside of the US, companies are not pulling back on sustainability. I think there is an increasing focus in Europe and the UK.”

Nadia Crowe, environmental sustainability senior analyst for the industrial software company Aveva, part of Schneider Electric, adds: “Aveva and Schneider Electric are both global and while the US is a very big market, it is not the only one. We have major operations in the EU and that's where things are really ramping up. From my perspective, we're doubling down.”

Lauren Hook, global head of sustainability at Corporate Travel Management (CTM), says, “What we are seeing across the board is a review and recalibration of sustainability programmes, carbon reduction pathways and net zero targets to ensure they’re robust and achievable.”

Hook adds: “Businesses are learning how challenging decarbonisation can be, particularly in areas like travel, especially aviation. While we are seeing progress, the reality is we have a long way to go to true net zero travel.”

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