We are excited to announce that with the help of our friends at eCollective we have calculated the emissions of our business and worked out how much carbon each of our trips produce.
The big question is WHY?! Well, if you aren’t aware we are in a climate emergency, then you need to stop reading this and start doing some research asap!! If you are aware of the position we are in, then your next question might be…
HOW DOES CALCULATING EMISSIONS AND CARBON LABELLING HELP ANYTHING?
Another good question. Everything we do creates a carbon footprint. We need to do everything we can to minimise our footprint and start to make conscious decisions about the impact we are having. Carbon Labelling allows you, your school, teachers, parents and students to make informed decisions about the trips that you book. It also enables everyone to have ownership of the carbon they create.
For us, labelling our trips gives us a base line. In line with Science Based Targets Initiative guidance, we know that we need to reduce the emissions of our trips and our business by 5% each year, so now it is here for us to see in black and white. Our buzzing trip makers are getting creative about how they do that. We are working in the office and with our overseas partners to do this while keeping our trips as the wonderful, mind-opening, life changing experiences that they are! Each year we will report on our progress so you can be sure we are doing what we have said we will.
NUMBERS and METHODOLOGY
Calculating all this accurately is not easy. To ensure it was done to the highest possible standard we brought in the eCollective team, the carbon consultant company, who are very passionate and experienced at this number crunching and helping businesses like us reduce our carbon emissions. That said there are certain assumptions that they have to make in their calculations. This is a relatively new area and the accuracy of data is always improving. eCollective will always overestimate figures instead of underestimating the impact of something. They use data from the most reliable sources that they can find e.g DEFRA and they add a buffer in for any unknown extras. All the itineraries are based on 20 students and 2 teachers travelling, flights will be based on direct flights where possible. Here is the link to how they do what they do. We’ve got to be honest, it isn’t the most exciting read, but this is how you and we know we are doing this in the most scientific and reliable way possible. In short, we are not just picking numbers from random to make ourselves look good: (https://docs.google.com/document/d/15oS2LoB2Y2g_LBATvNh8VATtKR2WgtdlbiGBfw4MPQo/edit).
COMPARING CARBON:
Our carbon labels allow you to make direct comparisons between our trips. For example, the average trip to Morocco for 6 days would emit 837kg CO2e per person. This is equivalent to driving 2815.90 km in a medium petrol car or taking 2092 8 minute showers! (based on a 8kw electric shower). Whereas the average trip to Cuba for 10 days would emit 4,031kg CO2e per person (this is the equivalent of driving 13561.43 km in a medium petrol car or eating 1260 cheeseburgers).
SHOULD WE BE TRAVELLING AT ALL?
We need to change the way we travel but we know in our bones that tourism is vital to the world. 1 in 10 jobs are created by tourism, many of the worlds’ most delicate and important ecosystems are protected due to tourism, tourism fuels the conservation of wildlife and in a world where it can feel we are very divided, connecting and understanding different people and cultures is more important than ever. (WTTC)