Tour operator becomes first in the world to have its climate goals verified by the Science Based Targets initiative
UK tour company Intrepid Travel plans to reduce the number of trips it offers that rely on long-haul air travel in order to meet a string of science-aligned climate goals announced today.
The B-Corp certified company has become the first tour operator in the world to unveil emissions reduction targets verified by the the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in line with Paris Agreement's more ambitious 1.5C global warming goal, having already been ceritifed carbon neutral since 2018.
To meet the new goals the company plans to expand its "closer-to-home" travel holiday options to 100 by next year, in a bid to encourage customers to forgo long-haul flights in favour of high speed rail and other low carbon forms of transport. Many of the firm's existing itineraries that rely on air travel are also set to be shifted to lower carbon alternatives, it said.
Under the new targets, Intrepid Travel has committed to reducing the value chain emissions generated by its trips by 56 per cent per passenger per day by 2035 compared to a 2018 baseline. It has also pledged to reduce the value chain emissions incurred by its full-time employees by 34 per cent over the same time period, in part by reducing international business travel.
The goals will also see Intrepid working to reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions - those generated from its direct activities and power - by 71 per cent by 2035, compared to a 2018 base year. To do this, the company said it would transition to 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025.
James Thornton, chief executive of Intrepid Travel, said the new targets represented the "most significant step" the company had taken for the climate in 15 years and called on other travel operators to follow suit.
"Setting science-based targets is widely considered the most effective way for companies to take significant climate action, and we're proud to be building our business towards a 1.5C future," he said. "Our hope is that we can use this as a rallying cry to the entire industry that climate action needs to be a critical priority in travel's post-Covid recovery. We simply can't rebuild at the expense of the planet," he adds.
Intrepid Travel has sought to position itself as a climate leader in the tourism industry, which is estimated to account for around eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is currently facing major uncertainty in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic which has dealt a body blow to international travel. The company claims to have offset more than 350,000 tonnes of CO2 over the last 10 years, and earlier this year the firm also declared a climate emergency with Tourism Declares, a coalition of tourism businesses, organisations and individuals that have committed to tackling climate change.
There are now more than 1,000 companies worldwide signed up to the Science-Based Targets initiative, of which more than half have had their goals officially verified. Of those, just 14 hospitality and tourism companies worldwide have had climate targets approved by SBTi, of which just three are aligned with a 1.5C scenario.