Milestones In Sustainability For GBTA
The GBTA, along with the GBTA Foundation, continues to move forward on its commitment, partnering and programming in sustainability to enable the global business travel industry to reduce carbon emissions and build a greener future.
Delphine Millot, Senior Vice President, Sustainability, GBTA and Managing Director, GBTA Foundation, said that: “As an industry, through individual organizations as well as our collective efforts, we’re making real progress toward more sustainable global business travel. There’s a lot more to be done, but each step brings us closer to scaling solutions that will help decarbonize business travel.”
The GBTA is now a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. Officially launched at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November 2021, the Glasgow Declaration unites travel and tourism behind a common set of pathways for climate action, aligning the sector with global commitments and catalyzing collaborative solutions to the many challenges facing businesses and destinations globally.
With a commitment to lead by example and raise awareness, GBTA is among the 230 supporting organizations who have stepped forward to date to help accelerate climate action in tourism and take action to cut emissions in half by 2030 and achieve Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050.
The association has also entered into a strategic partnership with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance to enhance collaborative action to enable the hospitality industry to have a lasting positive impact.
A key pillar for joint action will be to drive the uptake of a consistent and robust approach to carbon measurement for the accommodation sector. Harmonizing the way emissions are measured on an industry-wide, global scale is critical to allow corporations to effectively calculate and compare emissions from their hotel stays.
It’s also why GBTA recognizes the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI), the carbon calculation methodology developed by the Alliance, as a go-to standard measurement which is included in GBTA’s revamped Sustainability Toolkit, a guide for corporate travel managers to track and improve the environmental performance on their travel programs.
Glenn Mandziuk, CEO, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, explained that: “If we are to make net positive hospitality a reality, we need to involve all parts of the hospitality chain from owner to guest. We are therefore delighted to be partnering with the GBTA Foundation. This partnership brings together our reach and expertise within the hospitality sector, with GBTA’s impact in the business travel community, to create a better future for the planet and its people.”
The GBTA will be hosting its first ever Global Sustainability Summit on Nov. 8, 2022, in Brussels, focusing on Driving Action to Net Zero Business Travel.
The one-day event, will bring together speakers, experts, industry and policy leaders to outline concrete solutions to decarbonize business travel, in alignment with the Paris Climate Goals – and concurrently to the 27th UN Climate Summit in Egypt.
Go to www.gbta.org for more.
