2025 business travel sustainability trends shaping the year ahead
Sustainability maturity varies across regions and even across sectors. As we move into the final quarter of the year, it’s clear that the strategies, challenges, and opportunities shaping today’s travel programs will set the tone for 2026 and beyond.
What CTM’s sustainability team is witnessing across many companies is a review and recalibration of sustainability programs, carbon reduction pathways and net zero targets to ensure they’re robust and achievable.
In this blog, Lauren Hook, CTM’s Global Head of Sustainability, explores the state of sustainable business travel so far in 2025, and what these developments could mean for the year ahead.
How mature are corporate travel sustainability programs in 2025?Sustainability maturity varies significantly. For example, professional services and technology sectors tend to focus heavily on business travel emissions, as they have relatively low direct (Scope 1 and 2) greenhouse gas emissions. Conversely, other industries may be more focused on addressing energy or supply chain emissions, with travel not an immediate focus.
Across the board, businesses are reviewing their carbon reduction pathways and net zero strategies. This recalibration is a positive step, helping organisations avoid over-promising, reduce reputation risk, and build customer trust.
The driver for the recalibration comes from a landscape of increased sustainability reporting requirements globally, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in the EU, the draft UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS) and emerging regulations such as the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS) and similar policies in China, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia.
These frameworks are increasing pressure on businesses to mature their climate governance, risk management and reporting, which will have a trickle-down effect on business travel reporting. This is a reason why companies are moving away from broad commitments toward robust and auditable targets.
What progress is being made towards decarbonising travel?If there’s one area of business travel that’s tough to decarbonise, it’s aviation. Flying people around the world is fossil fuel-intensive, and for now, there’s no quick fix. That said, there are promising signs of progress. Airlines are already making positive changes to drive a more sustainable pathway.
- More efficient aircraft operations resulting in reduced emissions
- Investment in newer aircraft fleets, which supports fuel efficiency
- AI to optimise flight routing
- Increased adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
SAF, though still in limited supply and more expensive, is gaining traction as a real alternative to conventional jet fuel.
Ultimately, each of these levers helps, and together they’re nudging the industry in the right direction. But let’s be clear, the journey to true net-zero travel will be long and complex. Businesses that want to make progress today need to find the balance between ambition and practicality, setting meaningful goals while recognising that some solutions will take time to fully scale.
The good news is that companies don’t need to wait for a perfect solution to start. Partnering with the right travel providers, encouraging smarter choices, keeping sustainability front of mind and creating demand for more sustainable alternatives can ensure progress while the bigger, long-term industry innovations continue to develop.
How can companies balance cost and sustainability in business travel bookings?When it comes to booking business travel, cost can be the first thing on everyone’s mind. Budgets might be tight, and travel managers are expected to deliver savings. That often means sustainability becomes a “nice-to-have” rather than a deciding factor.
But we’re starting to see this shift. More organisations are realising that cost and sustainability don’t have to compete. In fact, they can work together.
By building sustainability into travel policies, companies can get more value out of the trips they take and often save money in the process. Examples might be choosing rail instead of air where possible and maximising business travel value by packing in more meetings, extending stays for multiple purposes, or making sure the right people are on the road.
The organisations getting this right aren’t just looking at price tags, they’re looking at the bigger picture. They’re asking: How do we balance financial savings, sustainability goals, and employee wellbeing in one strategy?
Sustainability in business travel isn’t something one person or one department can tackle alone – it’s a team effort. The companies currently making the most progress are the ones bringing different parts of the business together and making sure everyone is pulling in the same direction.
On one side, you’ve got the travel teams. They focus on policies, supplier relationships, and day-to-day booking behaviours, essentially, how and why employees are hitting the road. On the other side are the sustainability teams, who are setting the big-picture reduction targets and making sure travel strategies align with the company’s broader ESG goals.
When these groups work in silos, opportunities are missed. But when they collaborate, the impact is powerful. Travel teams can identify where emissions reductions are realistic, while sustainability teams can ensure those changes are measured, tracked, and tied back to corporate commitments.
The result of collaboration is targets that aren’t just ambitious, but achievable, with clear accountability and progress everyone can see.
At its core, sustainability is a shared responsibility. By breaking down silos and treating business travel as part of the wider climate strategy, organisations will have the opportunity to make meaningful, measurable progress faster.
With the increased sustainability reporting requirements has come the non-negotiable need for timely emissions data. Businesses are moving from estimates to actuals, with an expectation that travel emissions data should meet finance-level and auditable standards.
Travel teams will need to have the necessary business travel emissions data both before they take steps to reduce and once these reduction targets are set. Ensuring this data is regularly communicated to key business decision-makers at the right time helps keep the goal aligned and shared.
As organisations look toward 2026, those that integrate sustainability into travel programs today will be better equipped to meet compliance obligations, reduce costs and strengthen stakeholder trust tomorrow.
Regulations are tightening, stakeholders are asking tougher questions, and organisations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate measurable progress on their ESG goals.
The good news? Business travel doesn’t need to come at the expense of sustainability. By embedding clear sustainability measures directly into your travel policy, you can reduce emissions, meet compliance requirements, control costs, and enhance traveller wellbeing all without compromising the value of business travel itself.
Here are six essential elements to consider when shaping a sustainable travel policy.
1. Choose direct flights where possibleEvery take-off and landing accounts for a large share of an aircraft’s emissions. Reducing stopovers by booking direct flights is one of the most effective ways to cut your travel footprint. It also saves employees time and reduces fatigue, supporting overall wellbeing.
Pro tip: Encourage your travellers to prioritise direct routes in your booking platform. Where this isn’t possible, consider consolidating trips to maximise the value of each journey.
Did you know?
Travelling in business class produces up to three times the emissions of economy due to larger seat space and fewer passengers per cabin. By introducing clear class-of-travel guidelines, companies can reduce both their emissions and travel spend.
Pro tip: Many organisations now mandate economy class for flights under six hours, reserving premium cabins for long-haul or wellness-related needs. Clear policy saves employees from making ad-hoc choices and provides consistency across the business.
Did you know?
According to conversion factors from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (previously DEFRA), a one-way economy flight between London and New York, for one passenger, would be responsible for 1.12 tCO2e emissions. If in business class, they would be responsible for 3.24 tCO2e, and in first class, 4.47 tCO2e.
Ground transport choices play a growing role in reducing emissions. Electric and hybrid vehicles are now widely available through rental providers and ride-share services. In regions with strong rail networks, such as Europe, replacing short-haul flights with rail journeys can cut emissions significantly while allowing travellers to work productively on the move.
Pro tip: Configure your booking tool to make EVs the default option and surface rail alternatives where available. These simple changes drive adoption without adding complexity for.
Did you know?
Hotels and accommodation are turning to ratings and certification bodies such as NABERS, Green Key and EarthCheck to measure and benchmark their impact. Certifications from these organisations provide measurable benchmarks for energy and water efficiency, waste reduction, and overall environmental performance and the comfort that the corresponding environmental claims have been externally verified.
By promoting the use of preferred hotels and accommodation partners with sustainability certifications in your travel policy, you can ensure every overnight stay supports your ESG goals.
Pro tip: Encourage travellers to book certified properties by making sustainability ratings visible at the time of booking. Over time, these choices not only reduce environmental impact but also influence supplier negotiations in favour of more sustainable partners.
Did you know?
Not all airlines are equal when it comes to sustainability. Beyond ticket price, look at factors such as fleet age, use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), and commitments to carbon reduction targets. Choosing airlines that are prioritising lower-emission operations supports the industry’s transition and aligns your program with long-term sustainability goals.
Pro tip: Leverage CTM’s Lightning booking tool, which provides an airline SAF score (AAA to D) across 250+ global carriers. This enables travellers and bookers to compare flights not just by price and schedule, but also by environmental impact.
Did you know?
A carbon budget assigns a maximum emissions allowance to a business unit, department, or individual traveller. This makes sustainability tangible, encourages responsible decision-making, and keeps emissions reductions on track.
While still an emerging practice, carbon budgets are gaining traction as businesses seek practical ways to balance travel needs with sustainability commitments.
Pro tip: Start small. Create a pilot group of frequent travellers before scaling across the organisation. Use reporting tools such as CTM’s Data Hub to track usage in real time and link budgets to approval processes where appropriate.
Putting policy into practiceA sustainable travel policy is only effective if travellers and bookers understand it and follow it. To help them get on board, organisations may wish to consider:
- Education: provide short, practical training on why sustainability rules are in place.
- Incentives: recognise employees or teams that consistently book within policy.
- Visibility: use your online booking tool to highlight sustainable choices at the point of decision-making.
- Impact: enable travellers to monitor progress through carbon reporting.
Sustainability commitments are far easier to achieve with the right technology in place.
CTM’s proprietary platforms provide:
- in-booking emissions calculations and SAF airline scoring and certified accommodation ratings
- the ability to filter and preference car results for EV and hybrid vehicles
- sort and filter hotels and cars by lowest emissions
- on-demand carbon dashboards and detailed emissions reporting by trip, traveller, department, class of travel, or by service (air/hotel/car/rail).
By embedding sustainability insights directly into the booking process and reporting cycle, organisations can move beyond “policy on paper” to measurable outcomes.
The bottom lineSustainability in corporate travel isn’t about restricting travel; it’s about maximising value while minimising impact. A well-designed travel policy balances emissions reduction with cost control, compliance, and traveller wellbeing.
By taking practical steps, from direct flights and EV rentals to certified hotels and carbon budgets, your organisation can demonstrate leadership, meet regulatory requirements, and unlock long-term savings.
At CTM, we help organisations worldwide turn sustainability commitments into measurable results. Our technology and expertise make it simple to align your travel program with both cost savings and environmental goals.
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