In 2021 we committed to reducing our carbon emissions to net zero by 2030. Travalyst exists to catalyse positive change across the travel and tourism industry and, in line with our own mission, we recognise the role we ourselves must play in proactively addressing the climate crisis.
Climate change is a global challenge, and every organisation has a role to play in the effort to limit its impact. By reducing emissions, we can help to mitigate the effects of climate change. Actions to combat climate change can help to address environmental and social issues, contributing to the overall health and safety of communities across the world, and help preserve important biodiversity which is increasingly under threat from rising temperatures.
In order to achieve the Paris Agreement’s objective of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and keeping in mind the world’s current climate policies are projected to result in around 2.7°C warming, it is crucial that we act now.
The travel and tourism industry accounts for 8.1% of the world’s total carbon footprint, while accounting for 9.1% of global GDP. The industry provides 330 million jobs worldwide, but itself is at risk due to increasing severe weather events, wildfires and sea level rise. The travel and tourism industry needs to address its impact on the climate, which will ultimately support its own economic survival.
As one of the founding signatories of the Glasgow Declaration for Climate Action in Tourism, we understand what the tourism industry can, and must do. This is why Travalyst is working together with stakeholders from across the industry, to rethink the way we travel and operate with a goal of ensuring that there is a thriving future for generations to come.
We recognise that the carbon footprint of our operations is comparatively small for the sector. That said, as the unifying organisation behind a powerful coalition of leading travel and technology brands, we are in a unique position to set an example to the industry and we welcome this opportunity.
Our climate action plan articulates our own commitments to reduce our carbon footprint, the environmental impact of our day-to-day decisions and transparently outlines the challenges and opportunities we encounter on our path to achieving net zero emissions.
Essentially, aiming for net zero means to try to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible, then invest in projects that either prevent emissions elsewhere or pull carbon out of the air to reach a “net-zero” balance on paper.
Net zero, as defined by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in the context of corporate global targets, means halving emissions in the mid-term (by 2030) and then a 90% emissions reduction in the long term (2050), with the remaining 10% being captured into carbon removal and storage.
As signatories of the Glasgow Declaration for Climate Action in Tourism we have committed to achieving net zero emissions as soon as possible by 2050, but by ambition, we have brought this forward to 2030.
Measuring and abating our carbon footprint since our inception and using 2022 as our base year, we committed to reducing our emissions each year by at least 8% per employee, to achieve net zero by 2030.
In order to reduce our footprint and reach net zero by 2030, we must set a baseline year from which we track our annual progress.
Travalyst was founded in September 2019 which means a significant amount of our emission-related operations were suspended due to COVID-19, as well as our team growth. This accounts for the majority of 2020 and 2021 which, as a result, would not be ideal base years as per guidance from SBTi and the Glasgow Declaration. Therefore, we believe that 2022 is the most appropriate baseline year and reflective of our first ‘normal’ year of operations since inception.
We are tracking our progress against an intensity metric. This means measuring how much CO2 is emitted for one unit of business output, or per specific activity such as per product sold or per unit of revenue. In our case, as a small organisation with only scope 3 emissions (more detail below), we measure our emissions “per employee”. This allows us to consistently monitor our emissions, analyse trends and identify areas of inefficiency. For more information about carbon intensity metrics, visit ecollective’s blog post.
In the future, we plan to incorporate other intensity metrics that would better reflect the impact we aim to drive as an organisation. This way, we can ensure that every kilogram of CO2 we emit serves a greater purpose and brings us closer to our goal of making travel a force for good.
To achieve net zero by 2030, we are taking the following steps:
1 We recognise that the decarbonisation of aviation will require huge investment, global collaboration and a myriad of low carbon technologies, however we believe SAF represents one of the best near-to-medium-term viable opportunities for the aviation sector to reduce its carbon emissions.
We are working with ecollective to measure and reduce our carbon footprint. By calculating our emissions, we can strive to lower them each year until we achieve our net zero emissions goal. By making small but effective changes, we can reduce the carbon emitted per employee each year in a practical way that complements our business operations.
The core Travalyst team is small and remote-working, however as we are based internationally (currently in the UK, the USA, France, Spain, Germany, India and South Africa) as well as working with travel and technology companies from across the globe, taking a flight to a business related event is often the only viable option. Our company policy mandates that we always travel in economy (because travelling in premium economy or business class leaves a larger carbon footprint) but flights are still a large part of our emissions.
In our initial calculations for 2022, our baseline year, we determined that we would need to reduce our emissions by 8% per employee, annually, to achieve net zero by 2030. This target was set based on our understanding at that time.
During our meticulous annual audit of our emissions data, we identified a discrepancy in our calculations. After thorough investigation and consultation with our partners at ecollective, we discovered that our initial yearly target was underestimated.
Therefore, to align with our goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2030, we have recalculated our reduction targets. To achieve net zero, we now need to commit to an 11% annual reduction in carbon emissions per employee.
Our commitment to sustainability and achieving net zero emissions by 2030 remains the same, and we believe that by sharing this learning openly and adjusting our targets accordingly, we are reinforcing our dedication to normalising that the road to net zero may not always be perfect. Transparency and accountability are critical to our collective sustainability efforts.
We are working with Neste and Klimate on our carbon abatement and removal portfolio for the footprint we do have each year. We are learning and developing our approach as we go, meaning that we abate by a variety of methods at present (see below for more details).
As we learn more about our footprint and where the majority of our emissions come from year on year, we intend to develop reduction processes across our abatement portfolio that are responsive to the impact and type of emissions we generate. As is clear, flights generate a large proportion of our footprint and as such, alongside investment in Sustainable Aviation Fuels, we’ll be working internally and with industry experts on the most impactful way to address this.
Calculating our own carbon footprint can be a little complex, as almost everything we do has a footprint. To make sure we do it right, we partnered with ecollective to help us measure and improve our carbon footprint. Their calculations have been peer-reviewed by industry and are based on the latest data. This data is updated annually in order to improve accuracy over time.
We have adhered to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) and applied emission factors provided by DEFRA and other data sources. The areas in scope for this study include:
Carbon calculations are never perfect but our aim is to make the measurements and our abatement plan better each year. As new guidelines, protocols and better data are developed, we will revise our measurement framework, targets and abatement plan to ensure our climate action plan remains ambitious and up-to-date. To keep ourselves accountable and open to critique, we are happy to share our methodology. Reach out to [email protected] or to ecollective to find out more.