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 programmes 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 programmes, 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 programmes 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?

Why collaboration across teams is key to achieving travel sustainability goals

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.

How data and reporting are driving sustainable business travel

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 programmes today will be better equipped to meet compliance obligations, reduce costs and strengthen stakeholder trust tomorrow.