- Europe Agrees on a Common Standard for Transport Emissions — A Win for BT4Europe and Europe’s Business Travel Community
BT4Europe, the European Network of Business Travel Associations, was founded by twelve national associations and represents thousands of corporate travel buyers and suppliers across Europe. As the collective European voice of the business travel community, BT4Europe welcomes the EU’s breakthrough agreement on CountEmissionsEU, a single, EU-wide methodology for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport.
The European Union is writing history for travel and transport. Up until now, Europe has been faced with a myriad of different methods, often hard to compare, verify, or trust. One single methodology will make emissions calculations comparable across all modes of transportation. That’s good for consumers, for business, and for the planet. The agreement still requires formal approval by the European Parliament and Council.
This milestone shows what Europe can achieve when competitiveness, sustainability and mobility are treated not as separate goals, but as mutually reinforcing pillars of a stronger European economy.
BT4Europe has long called for a harmonised European approach to emission reporting — simple, transparent and comparable across all modes. The new universal standard will provide a common, transparent standard for measuring and reporting GHG emissions across all modes of transportation. While participation will be voluntary, any organisation that chooses to calculate its emissions will be required to use this single methodology — making it, in practice, the default footprint standard for Europe’s transport sector.
Angela Lille, Lead of BT4Europe’s Sustainability Working Group, said: “CountEmissionsEU goes beyond a calculation method – it sets the essential foundation for transparent and comparable GHG emissions across transport modes. By adopting a globally aligned ISO standard, it simplifies complexity, enhances European competitiveness, and enables seamless interoperability with corporate sustainability and regulatory reporting requirements — a true game changer for the travel industry.”
Patrick Diemer, Chair of BT4Europe, added:
“This agreement is proof that Europe can lead by example. By aligning transport emission standards across the Single Market, we not only simplify compliance — we strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and demonstrate that sustainability and economic performance can go hand in hand.”
BT4Europe will support the European Commission throughout implementation and contribute to ongoing work to ensure that the new EU tool is simple, inclusive, and practical. As an independent European association, we will work closely with the European Commission, Parliament and Member States to ensure that CountEmissionsEU becomes a trusted and practical tool for all business travel stakeholders — from travel managers and suppliers to European companies reporting under CSRD.
In line with its latest Sustainability Position Paper, BT4Europe will continue advocating for integration of transport emissions with other categories of business travel, including hospitality and events, to ensure a comprehensive view of corporate sustainability.BT4Europe will continue to champion policies that make European business travel smarter, greener and more competitive — ensuring that Europe remains the global leader in sustainable corporate mobility.
BT4Europe and its members will continue to lead by example — using, developing, and integrating this major step forward into business travel practice across Europe.
