2023 was the year that sustainability became a mandatory, perhaps even dominant, element of managed travel programs, at least in the European Union. The catalyst was the EU requiring 50,000 directly affected companies, and many more indirectly affected, to prepare for its Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, approved in November 2022 and taking effect Jan. 1, 2024.
Among the 1,100 data points required to be submitted under CSRD beginning in 2025, companies must disclose not only their business travel (and, separately, commuter travel) emissions for the previous year, but also their targets for those emissions one, five and 25 years ahead.
"There is just one line in the reporting for business travel emissions," Spotnana VP for strategy and partnerships Johnny Thorsen told BTN Europe. "Just one number allows for instant benchmarking of carbon emissions, so it will be hard to hide."
Thorsen added that CSRD disclosure comparisons will "definitely" pressure companies to reduce travel emissions more vigorously. Another interviewee described the directive as "Glassdoor on steroids." Just as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation became the global standard for data privacy, CSRD could well do the same for sustainability reporting.
Valdis Dombrovskis fairly can be described as the father of CSRD. Following academic training in both physics and economics, Dombrovskis served as prime minister of Latvia from 2009 to 2014. He then moved to the European Commission as vice president for the euro and social dialogue, before switching in 2019 to become trade commissioner and assuming the additional role of executive vice president.
At that point, the European Union already had a light-touch Non-Financial Reporting Directive applying to 11,000 businesses. As part of the Green Deal, Dombrovskis resolved to introduce a more detailed requirement for audited reporting on sustainability, applied to more companies.
Crucially, Dombrovskis also launched an initiative to create standards for reporting under the directive. What those standards should be remains hotly contested and, to date, not nearly as highly specified as the business travel sector would like.
The Commission has signaled it will show leniency on how emissions are reported until the standards are defined more fully—surely a priority for 2024. Whether Dombrovskis will be in the post to oversee this matter after the European Parliamentary elections and next appointment of commissioners in June 2024 is unclear.