GBTA Conference - Part 2

April 6 2011 by Bryson Forbes

BW_green.JPGOne of the most thought-provoking general sessions I attended last week at the Global Business Travel Association of Canada's (GBTA) annual conference was the Corporate Sustainability Challenge. The session was led by Steven Pacifico, manager of sustainability and stakeholder engagement for The Delphi Group.

Steven made the argument to a room of 300 corporate travel professionals that companies need to challenge themselves and start including the environmental impact when making their decisions (specifically as it relates to travel). I quickly began to understand why the session was called "challenge". It was as much for the theme as it was for Steven to convince this group that reducing travel could make sense. After all, the audience is the group who relies on business travelers getting back on the road for their livelihood, and they've already had their share of challenges over the past couple of years.

The message, however, was not about simply reducing travel, but was more about more "conscious" travel. The conference itself was a good example and the GBTA made great strides to ensure it was eco-friendly by not making bottled water readily available, limiting the amount of printed materials being circulated and eliminating the need to go offsite during the two-day show (and thus reducing vehicular travel).

Another strong argument Steven made was the fact that these decisions have had a positive impact on the triple "bottom line": a sustainability term that means any decision is scored on its impact to profit, people and the planet.

I know the Canadian travel industry is a very resilient and conscious group that's full of people who look at the impact of short-term decisions on the long term. If the travelers and companies we serve make better decisions today that will have a positive impact on the triple bottom line, then we all stand to benefit in a number of different ways economically down the road.

And if you haven't already done so, please check out the good work Best Western is doing to incorporate environmental responsibility into its properties around the world by visiting http://www.bestwestern.com/programs/bwgreen/.

Thanks to GBTA and to Steven for a thought-provoking session. I accept the challenge and will commit to making more conscious travel decisions moving forward. How about you? Do you have any examples of things you're doing that qualify as sustainable travel?

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