Insights from ATMA’s Latest Member ESG Survey

Every assignment, every relocation, every cross-border move involves flights, freight, housing, and supply chains, and increasingly, the people making those decisions are being asked to account for the environmental and social footprint that comes with them. ATMA surveyed RMCs, DSPs, movers, corporate housing providers, immigration professionals, and other mobility stakeholders across Asia Pacific to take an honest read of where our industry stands. A sincere thank you to every member who responded your candour is what makes this intelligence meaningful, and here is what you told us.

Strategic intent is ahead of operational reality

67% of respondents describe ESG as a clear corporate priority.

17% of respondents said ESG is not yet clearly defined and 2 smaller groups (8% each) say it is mainly customer-driven or talked about but not embedded. The era of “we’ll get to ESG eventually” is largely over. The challenge now is moving from stated commitment to operational delivery, and that is where the friction begins.

Data and know-how are the twin blockers

Nearly 60% of respondents cited data collection and reporting as their primary ESG challenge. A single relocation can involve an RMC, a DSP, a moving company, a temporary housing provider, and multiple local vendors. Producing consolidated, auditable ESG data across that ecosystem is challenging. Carbon footprinting is the sharpest example: most mobility programmes have no systematic way of measuring it, yet for organisations reporting Scope 3 emissions, employee mobility is a material category.

Training and awareness followed as the second biggest challenge. The gap is not simply a lack of knowledge, but respondents indicated that they struggle with what good ESG practice looks like when managing a relocation programme or a serviced apartment portfolio. Generic sustainability training does not answer that question. APAC-based teams at global organisations face an added layer: expected to implement a strategy set elsewhere, without always being resourced to do so.

What the industry wants to learn 

More than 90% of respondents want more ESG content from ATMA. The top 3 priorities are clear and consistent across all stakeholder groups. This tells us that respondents require practical, day-to-day guidance, not high-level frameworks.

• Industry-relevant ESG guidance: 16%
• Global & Asia-specific ESG regulations: 14%
• Carbon footprinting: 14%
• Data gathering & integrity: 14%
• EcoVadis & benchmarks: 12%

Other insights

The survey surfaces some telling gaps between visibility and execution. While 78% of respondents confirmed ESG features on their corporate website, only 33% have a dedicated ESG team or committee in Asia. For many organisations, ESG is being front-faced externally before it is properly resourced internally, a gap the industry needs to close.

Commercial pressure is building but unevenly. 58% say their sales teams factor ESG into procurement conversations, but a notable portion said "maybe" or "not sure," suggesting that even where ESG is a stated priority, it has not yet consistently reached the front line of client-facing work.

Individual motivation is outpacing organisational structure. 67% of respondents say they personally prioritise ESG with their teams, even in organisations where formal structures are absent. That grassroots commitment is a real asset, but it also points to a risk: progress that depends on individual champions rather than embedded processes is fragile.

The APAC dimension is distinct and under-served. Respondents are spread across Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, and Japan and the message from open responses is consistent: global frameworks do not translate cleanly to this region. What practitioners need is guidance built for APAC conditions, not adapted from headquarters’ playbooks.

Workshop appetite is near-unanimous. All except one respondent said yes to attending mobility ESG workshops or events.

What this means for the global mobility industry

For corporate HR and mobility managers, start building ESG measurement into programme governance now, even imperfectly. The organisations ahead of the curve in two years are the ones asking the right questions today. For RMCs, a credible ESG story is becoming a commercial necessity as procurement conversations go deeper. For DSPs, movers, and temporary housing providers, supply chain accountability is the direction of travel. Clients under Scope 3 reporting pressure will increasingly expect transparent ESG data from their providers. Those who can deliver it will become preferred partners.

ATMA will use these findings to shape our content and events for the rest of the year. If you have made progress on ESG integration and are willing to share it, or if you would like to help shape what an APAC mobility ESG standard could look like, we want to hear from you. What this survey makes clear is that the appetite, the urgency, and the people needed to drive it forward are already here.

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This article is based on ATMA's 2025 ESG member survey. Respondents represent a cross-section of the Asia Pacific mobility ecosystem, including RMCs, DSPs, corporate housing providers, corporate in-house mobility teams, immigration and tax professionals and professional services firms.