New Direct Travel sustainability report sets context for lower-carbon crew change travel

Direct Travel, one of the world’s largest travel management companies, has today published its first annual Direct Impact Report since the acquisition of long-term partner ATPI, bringing together its sustainability and social impact activity from across the expanded Direct Travel organisation.

Covering key reporting metrics from the 2025 calendar year, the report establishes an important foundation for measuring future progress as Direct Travel continues to expand its global capabilities across corporate travel, specialty travel, leisure travel and meetings & events. It includes ATPI Marine Travel within the group’s Specialty Travel business, which an extensive portfolio of crew change travel services to the maritime sector.

Beyond its own climate reporting, Direct Travel continued to support clients in taking greater control of their travel emissions, helping them adopt Thrust Carbon’s emissions measurement platform and gain greater visibility of flight, hotel, rail and car hire emissions data.

Direct Travel has also expanded its partnerships across the aviation ecosystem to improve access to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), an alternative to conventional jet fuel that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions over its lifecycle. Collaborations include fuel producers CFP Energy and Neste, while Direct Travel has also worked with Delta Air Lines to strengthen client understanding of SAF and how it can be integrated into wider sustainability strategies.

Pippa Ganderton, Director, Sustainable Travel and Events, said: “2025 marked an exciting turning point, with more clients preparing for their first sustainability audits and moving from climate ambition towards meaningful action. Accurate emissions data is the vital first step, helping organizations understand and address the environmental impact of their travel and events programmes while responding to growing investor and stakeholder expectations.

The Direct Impact Report specifically highlights work by the group’s marine and energy teams to advance climate awareness across ocean-dependent industries, connecting travel-related emissions and marine sustainability with the operational realities facing these sectors.

For shipowners and operators, one practical application is crew change travel. While direct vessel emissions remain shipping’s primary decarbonisation challenge, the flights and other transport required to mobilise and repatriate seafarers form part of a company’s wider Scope 3 footprint.

Through ATPI Halo’s Measure, Reduce, Compensate approach, ATPI Marine Travel enables shipping clients to quantify the CO2e associated with crew change travel and use that insight to identify opportunities for reduction. These can include more direct itineraries and informed supplier choices where vessel schedules, port locations and other operational requirements allow.

Where air travel remains unavoidable, maritime clients can also access SAF through ATPI Halo’s partnership with Neste, providing an in-sector route to reducing aviation-related emissions. For residual emissions, Halo provides access to verified carbon compensation projects, including blue carbon initiatives aligned with the marine environment.

The report also highlights the experience of marine client Van Weelde. Carlo Jansen, CFO of Van Weelde, said: “As a business operating within the marine sector, we recognize the importance of supporting long-term environmental responsibility across our operations and supply chain. Working with ATPI Halo has helped us better understand and address our travel-related emissions through more transparent reporting and practical action.”

Christal Bemont, Chief Executive Officer of Direct Travel, added: “This report marks an important milestone for Direct Travel as we present our first sustainability and social impact report reflecting our expanded family of companies, including ATPI and Creative Group. As Direct Travel continues to integrate ATPI and collaborate across Creative Group, we are accelerating the sharing of expertise, innovation, and responsible business practices across our global business.”

While climate action is a central theme, the Direct Impact Report also reflects Direct Travel’s wider focus on its people, communities and clients. During 2025, around one in six employees took part in volunteering activities, contributing more than 4,525 hours globally, while 30,684 hours of professional and development-focused training were completed across the organisation. Women held 50% of leadership roles, and Direct Travel reported a 98% client retention rate, reflecting a broader approach to responsible growth that extends beyond environmental impact.

To read Direct Travel’s Direct Impact Report in full, please visit: https://www.dt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Direct-Impact-Report-2025-1.pdf