Annual report sets out commitments and achievements in environmental, social and governance progress
London, UK – 22 May 2023 – American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), the world’s leading B2B travel platform, has published its 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report. The report highlights significant accomplishments and advancements made by Amex GBT in its sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), social impact, and governance initiatives.
CEO Paul Abbott said: “2022 was a seminal year for Amex GBT. We became a public company, defined our purpose, and set out bold commitments to drive change in our industry and leave a legacy of positive societal impact.”
“At the beginning of 2022 we pledged economic, social and environmental commitments to power progress through travel. The goals were to make the future of work an opportunity for all, move people when it matters most, and lead the industry to a lasting solution for sustainable aviation respectively.
“We are proud of the hard work and investments made towards achieving these objectives, as illustrated in this report. We know there remains a lot to be achieved, but we can continue to drive progress by working collaboratively with colleagues, customers and industry partners.”
Key highlights of the report include:
Environmental Impact:
- Science Based Targets: Amex GBT worked towards a formal commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and has submitted a target for official validation before the end of 2023.
- World Economic Forum: Amex GBT was the first travel management company to join the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a member. We became part of the First Movers Coalition and signed the WEF Clean Skies for Tomorrow ambition statement to achieve 10% SAF by 2030.
- Carbon pricing: Amex GBT launched a pilot enabling clients to create budgets to invest in sustainability initiatives by placing an internal price on carbon emissions.
- CHOOOSE: Amex GBT integrated with CHOOOSE to accelerate sustainable business travel, providing travelers worldwide with leading-edge insights into their carbon emissions and supporting more informed travel decisions.
- Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) 1 million gallons: The amount of SAF available at launch of Amex GBT’s SAF pilot program in June 2022, in partnership with Shell Aviation and Accenture via Avelia.
- Net Zero Carbon Events: Amex GBT Meeting and Events signed the Net Zero Carbon Events (NZCE) pledge, a joint commitment across the events industry to achieve the targets laid out in the Paris Climate Accord.
- Green Compass 30×30: Using Green Compass solutions, our Global Business Consulting team can show clients how to achieve a 30% emission reduction within their travel programs by 2030, supporting their organizations’ broader sustainability goals.
Social Impact:
- Moving people when it matters most: Amex GBT mobilized 30 travel counselors to help Miles4Migrants move 5,832 Afghan refugees and 1,533 Ukrainian refugees to safety.
- Global partnership for continuous growth: Our CEO, Paul Abbott, signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, the largest CEO-led commitment to advance workplace DE&I.
- Diversifying tech roles: Amex GBT and Egencia teams joined forces to drive tech roles for female candidates at the Grace Hopper Celebration in Orlando, Florida.
- Delivering regional impact: Our Benelux team signed the Diversity Charter with the Dutch Social and Economic Council, which includes a commitment to increase female representation in senior leadership roles in Benelux to 33% by the end of 2022 and to 40% by the end of 2023.
- Innovation: Won the Business Travel Awards Europe Travel Team of the Year accolade for the Google-Amex GBT travel team’s ‘Accessibility Travel Desk’.
- LGBTQ+ equality drive: Australian colleagues won Bronze at Australian WorkPlace Equality Index and pursued membership to Pride in Diversity, supporting employers striving for LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Governance:
- Maintained our brand mission to provide the powerful backing of American Express Global Business Travel, with a robust governance framework that protects our reputation, colleagues, customers and partners.
- Regular, mandated employee training program in all essential areas of governance including Code of Conduct, Information Security, Sanctions, Anticorruption, Antitrust and Privacy Awareness.
- Amex GBT was awarded Compliance Week’s Compliance Program of the Year for 2022.
- Amex GBT became a publicly traded company, listing on the New York Stock Exchange on May 31, 2022.
Please download the full report here.