Business travel expenses list – The who, what, and why of paying for work trips
Exploring the awards shaping greener business travel
Sustainability has moved from a travel-industry talking point to a genuine measure of progress, performance and reputation. Across Europe, companies are under pressure to reduce the environmental impact of their corporate travel – and suppliers are being asked to prove that they’re not only offsetting carbon, but transforming how travel is planned and delivered. That shift is exactly why the business travel sustainability awards have become such a significant part of the industry calendar.
What began as a small recognition programme has grown into one of the most respected sets of sustainable travel awards in Europe, bringing together travel managers, climate specialists, suppliers, ESG leaders and mobility innovators. The awards celebrate organisations that are demonstrating real, measurable change – whether through smarter routing, low-emission fleets, sustainable aviation fuel programmes, rail-first travel strategies or technology that cuts unnecessary journeys altogether.
As sustainable travel climbs even higher on corporate agendas, the awards offer something increasingly important: clarity. They give travel managers insight into who is leading the way, which initiatives genuinely reduce emissions and what the future of sustainable travel looks like for businesses trying to meet ambitious climate goals without slowing down their operations.
What the business travel sustainability awards in Europe actually are
The business travel sustainability awards have quickly become one of the most influential benchmarks in the travel industry – not because they celebrate nice ideas, but because they focus on measurable action. First introduced by the BTN Group in 2023, the awards were created in response to a simple shift happening across Europe: sustainability is no longer a side project in corporate travel programmes, it is now a core performance metric.
Unlike traditional sustainable travel awards, which often highlight broad commitments or marketing-led initiatives, these awards recognise companies, travel managers, analysts and suppliers who are delivering real, evidenced progress. Every entry goes through an independent judging panel made up of senior travel managers, sustainability consultants and ESG specialists who look for tangible results rather than promises.
What the judges assess is detailed and deliberately rigorous. Submissions are evaluated across criteria such as:
- Carbon reduction performance backed by verified data
- Supplier innovation, especially new technology or processes reducing emissions
- Behaviour change programmes that shift how travellers choose and move
- Policy alignment, ensuring sustainability goals are part of everyday decision-making
- Reporting transparency, including credible methodologies and meaningful metrics
For travel, HR and finance managers, understanding how these awards work is important. They act as a clear signal of which suppliers and travel teams are leading the way on sustainable travel, and which approaches are proving the most effective across Europe’s business travel ecosystem.
Who judges the awards?
The judging panel includes:
- Senior corporate travel managers
- Independent travel consultants
- Sustainability and ESG specialists
- Industry analysts
This independent structure make sure that winners are chosen based on data, not sponsorship or branding.
What the awards aim to do
- Highlight actions over claims
- Encourage modal shift to lower-carbon options (rail, EV fleets, serviced apartments)
- Reward transparency and reporting discipline
- Showcase suppliers with credible, science-aligned sustainability targets
- Provide travel managers with trusted benchmarks
These sustainable travel awards are becoming a key reference point for procurement, HR, sustainability and finance teams selecting partners for their travel programmes.
Categories recognised across Europe
The awards span suppliers, travel programmes and individual leadership. The structure changes slightly each year, but the core categories include:
Core award categories
Award category | What it recognises | Why it matters |
Achievement in Sustainability – Managed Travel Programme | Companies reducing emissions through policy, behavioural change and reporting | Helps travel managers benchmark best-in-class programmes |
Sustainability Champion | Individuals leading transformational sustainability work | Highlights leadership that drives cultural change |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – Airline | Airlines implementing verifiable decarbonisation roadmaps | Gives procurement clarity on which suppliers back claims with action |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – Rail Operator | Rail companies enabling modal shift and low-carbon business travel | Important for Europe’s rail-first strategies |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – Ground Transport | EV expansion, fleet electrification and low-carbon routing | Supports greener door-to-door journeys |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – TMC | Travel management companies embedding sustainability into tools and policies | Guides corporate decision-making at the point of sale |
Achievement in Sustainability – Accommodation | Hotels standardising reporting and reducing property emissions | Helps companies book lower-impact stays |
Achievement in Sustainability Innovation | New technologies, platforms or processes | Shows where sustainability is heading next |
Achievement in Sustainability – Meetings & Events | Low-waste, low-carbon events strategy | A major impact area for large organisations |
Achievement in Advancing Sustainability – Data & Reporting | High-quality carbon reporting and transparency | Essential for ESG, procurement and finance teams |
These categories map closely to the real decisions organisations must make when designing sustainable travel programmes: which airlines to trust, which accommodation providers reduce impact, which ground transport partners are electrifying their fleets and which booking systems provide reliable carbon data.
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Winners of the 2025 Business Travel Sustainability Awards (Europe)
Below is a breakdown of the 2025 winners, based on BTN Europe’s Earth Day announcement.
Supplier winners
Category | Winner | Why they stood out |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – Airline | easyJet | Holistic sustainability approach, strong SAF collaboration, operational efficiencies |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – Rail Operator | Avanti West Coast | Validated 2031 net-zero target, strong modal shift partnerships |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – Ground Transport (Driver Hire) | Blacklane | Transparent EV expansion, measurable emissions reporting |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – TMC | BCD Travel | Carbon-fee invoicing, behavioural nudges, enterprise-wide strategy |
Highly Commended – TMC | Key Travel | Documented results, Carbon Neutral Hotel Rooms programme |
Achievement in Sustainability – Accommodation Provider | Lamington Group | Leading the way in carbon-accountable hotel operations |
Sustainability Partner of the Year – Data & Reporting Provider | HRS | Green Stay Initiative, emissions-based hotel sourcing |
Achievement in Sustainability Innovation | Clarasight | Cross-department CO₂ scenario planning and real-time modelling |
Programme and individual winners
Category | Winner | Why it matters |
Achievement in Sustainability – Managed Travel Programme | Zurich Insurance | Carbon budgets, dashboard reporting, emissions-based performance metrics |
Highly Commended | Arcadis & BDO LLP | Innovative carbon pricing and comprehensive stakeholder engagement |
Sustainability Champion | Donna Collins, Meetings & Incentives Worldwide | Impactful community-focused sustainability initiatives |
These winners help define what good sustainability looks like in corporate travel right now – grounded in evidence, not aspiration.
Permanent workplace
A long-term work location employees attend regularly.
Travel here = ordinary commuting → non-allowable.
Scenario | Allowable? | Why |
Engineer sent to a client site for 3 weeks | ✔ Yes | Temporary workplace |
Area manager visiting stores around their region | ✔ Yes | Duties require travel |
Employee going to the same office every day | ✘ No | Ordinary commute |
Contractor spending 2 years at the same project site | ✘ No | Becomes permanent under the 24-month rule |
Sales rep attending a conference in another city | ✔ Yes | Business attendance required |
Why these awards are important for travel, HR and finance managers
A growing number of organisations now view the business travel sustainability awards as a practical benchmarking tool.
1. They spotlight suppliers who back sustainability with results
Travel managers often struggle to distinguish genuine sustainability from green marketing. Award winners have:
- Verified emissions reductions
- Transparent data
- Programmes aligned to SBTi or similar frameworks
- Tangible improvements, not vague commitments
2. They help procurement benchmark and source confidently
Procurement teams increasingly use sustainability scores in RFPs. The awards provide a reliable reference point for:
- Pre-qualifying suppliers
- Comparing sustainability maturity
- Understanding which partners are accelerating change
3. They help organisations move from offsetting to reduction
Offsets have a role – but reductions matter more. These awards highlight suppliers doing the harder work: electrification, SAF investment, carbon budgeting, accurate reporting.
4. They reflect what employees expect
According to Microsoft’s 2024 Work Trend Index, 65% of employees consider sustainability when travelling for work.
If travel feels misaligned with corporate values, employee trust erodes.
5. They push sustainability into business-as-usual
Travel managers often face senior leaders asking “What does good look like?” Now they can point directly to credible, industry-leading examples.
What sustainable travel looks like in practice (and what these awards reward)
The awards consistently recognise companies making practical, everyday changes – the types of actions any organisation can adopt. These include:
Policy and behaviour
- Rail-first travel policies for journeys under 5 hours
- Department-level carbon budgets
- Behavioural nudges inside booking tools
- Encouraging multi-stop trip consolidation
- Virtual-first alternatives for unnecessary trips
Supplier choices
- Selecting hotels with verified emissions data (e.g., HRS Green Stay)
- Using serviced apartments for lower emissions per night
- Partnering with EV-led ground transport providers
- Prioritising airlines with SAF programmes and efficient fleets
Technology and reporting
- Carbon reporting at point of sale
- Scenario forecasting (“What if the team shifted 30% of flights to rail?”)
- Automatic emission-factor standardisation
- Department-level dashboards for HR and finance
These are the types of practical, measurable steps judges consistently reward – because they drive real-world progress rather than theoretical ambition.
How Roomex supports companies aiming for more sustainable travel
Roomex supports sustainability not through buzzwords, but by giving organisations the tools to make consistently better decisions – especially for workforce travel, where journeys often blend rail, road and hotel stays.
1. Enabling lower-impact travel choices
- Rail-first options for many workforce trips
- Access to millions of properties worldwide – including lower-impact serviced apartments
- Transparent visibility of alternatives, letting teams choose more efficient options
2. Reducing unnecessary travel admin (and its carbon footprint)
- Consolidated invoicing means fewer emails, PDFs and reconciliation cycles
- No paper receipts – everything is digital through RoomexPay
- Automated approvals reduce back-and-forth communications
3. Better visibility of emissions-linked spend
RoomexAnalytics provides:
- Clear data on routes and accommodation types
- Insight into cost drivers
- Patterns showing where high-impact journeys can be reduced
- Reporting that makes ESG compliance easier
4. Encouraging greener choices through policy
With Roomex, companies can set:
- Price caps
- Ticket preferences
- Accommodation criteria
- Traveller groups with tailored restrictions
This builds sustainability directly into everyday booking behaviour – removing guesswork.
5. Supporting modal shift and smarter routing
Rail + hotel combinations are common for field teams. By giving employees simple, centralised tools to book and manage multi-stop travel, companies naturally shift away from less efficient alternatives.
How travel managers can use these awards to evolve their programme
Here are practical ways to put the business travel sustainability awards to work.
Use award criteria as internal KPIs
- Carbon budgets
- Rail-first guidance
- Emissions-based approvals
Benchmark current suppliers
Ask: would they qualify for an award? If not, why?
Strengthen procurement
Add sustainability scoring to RFPs for airlines, hotels, ground transport and booking platforms.
Audit current travel patterns
- Identify routes where rail outperforms flights
- Test apartment stays instead of hotels
- Shift suppliers with weak reporting
Use award-winning examples to build buy-in
Leaders respond to recognised benchmarks and these awards provide just that.
Where sustainable business travel goes next
Corporate travel is changing quickly, and sustainability is steering the direction. With stricter European regulation, better supplier reporting and growing employee expectations, sustainability has moved from an optional extra to a defining feature of modern business travel programmes.
The business travel sustainability awards highlight what progress looks like today – but they also signal where the industry is heading next:
- More carbon-first decision making
- Accelerated modal shift to rail
- Better integration of emissions data at point of booking
- SBTi-aligned suppliers becoming standard
- Travel managers acting as sustainability stewards, not just coordinators
- Stronger partnerships between travel, finance, HR and ESG teams
Roomex will continue supporting companies on this path, helping them travel smarter, lower their impact and give their workforce the clarity and control they need on the road.
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