IHG Hotels & Resorts and the GBTA Foundation hosted a key event at Climate Week NYC 2024, bringing together top sustainability leaders to discuss the decarbonization of business travel. With global business travel spending projected to hit $1.48 trillion in 2024 and surpass $2 trillion by 2028, the focus on sustainable travel has never been more critical.

Co-hosted with IDEO, Accenture, American Express Global Business Travel, Delta Air Lines, and Hertz, the event explored how the necessity of business travel can be balanced with the need to reduce carbon emissions. Using IDEO's Creative Tensions format, participants engaged in lively discussions on the challenges and opportunities in decarbonizing the sector.

Catherine Dolton, Chief Sustainability Officer at IHG, said, “While business travel continues to evolve and grow, the importance of human connection to solve complex problems and drive business growth remains. Our industry’s scale gives us an important opportunity to reduce carbon emissions, however, to make meaningful strides we must work together more and inspire innovation. At IHG, for example, we continue to innovate through our recently introduced Low Carbon Pioneers initiative. The first community of its kind in the industry, this group of low operational carbon hotels will help us test, learn and share findings on sustainability measures.”

Delphine Millot, Senior Vice President at GBTA Foundation, said, “GBTA and its Foundation are at the heart of building a sustainable future for global business travel. In fact, Climate Week NYC wouldn’t be possible without the collective power of the business travel industry to bring together businesses and policy makers in person to foster change. The continued success of our industry depends on mobilizing organizations through events this like this as well as our new Sustainability Acceleration Challenge to drive practices that materially reduce emissions from business travel.”

Alex Gallafent, Executive Design Director, IDEO, said “Leaders today must balance competing demands and tensions while transforming their businesses to meet the challenges of the Climate Era, and there are no easy solutions. These tensions, however, are fuel for inspiration, learning, and commitment – discovering how others are approaching similar challenges is critical to making brave choices and acting on them. Building the future isn’t a spectator sport, which is why IDEO is proud to partner with the world's leading organizations and help them thrive responsibly, sustainably, and in ways that return value to the world.”

With global leaders gathered for Climate Week NYC, the event highlighted the importance of addressing climate challenges within the business travel industry. As part of IHG’s Journey to Tomorrow responsible business plan, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the company is committed to fostering sustainability and driving progress toward a greener future.