PEOPLE PLACES & PLANET E XO D U S T RAV E LS SUSTAI N A B I L I T Y RE P O RT | 2021 & S T RATEGY | 2025
HIGHLIGHT
Our Sustainable Travel Journey We’re pleased to publish the first Exodus Travels Sustainability Report and we welcome the opportunity to share with all of our stakeholders the areas in which we’ve made solid progress against our 2020 and 2021 goals, and of course the areas in which we haven’t gone as far as we’d hoped. The last two years have provided a difficult context in which to implement our People, Places & Planet plan. But of far greater concern to us has been the huge detrimental impact that the halt in global tourism has had on our destination communities. Like never before, the fall out of this ‘tourism pause’ has reinforced the vital benefits that responsible tourism delivers, both through the economic opportunities and empowerment it brings to many communities across the world, and through its funding and incentivising of large scale conservation.
CHART
Likewise, we’ve also been made acutely aware that the dramatic suppression of human activity, such as travel, saw a significant drop in carbon emissions and a welcome respite for the natural world. Never has it been clearer that we have to play our part in rebuilding a less damaging and more regenerative travel sector. Our 2025 strategy (see page 44) outlines how we plan to pursue this goal over the coming three years, spearheaded by our Nature First commitment. In the meantime, I want to take this opportunity to celebrate the determination, selflessness and commitment of our supplier partners. We’ve seen this more than ever over the last two years – through their facilitation of Community Kickstart Project and COVID-19 emergency relief initiatives across their regions, as well as biodiversity conservation and restoration work they’ve remained committed to, despite the economic challenges they and their businesses have faced. I’dCOPY also like BLOCK to express gratitude to the Trustees of our Exodus Travels Foundation for their excellent governance over the last two difficult years, and I’m delighted to welcome our two new Trustees on board (‘meet’ them on page 42). Finally,STATISTIC I want to recognise the whole Exodus Travels and Headwater Holidays team, who have been unrelenting in their commitment to our purpose, despite all that the last two years has thrown at us, and our amazing community of clients, who hold us to account on our sustainable travel commitments and have been profoundly generous in support of our Foundation’s community empowerment and conservation efforts. Everything reported within these pages is only possible thanks to them.
Sam Seward, Managing Director
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CONTENTS
04
INTRODUCTION
06
DEVELOPING OUR PLAN
09 PEOPLE 17
PLACES
27
PLANE T
34
ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
40 FOUNDATION IMPACT & GOVERNANCE 44
2025 STRATEGY
46
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Introducing
THE EXODUS TRAVELS SUSTAINABILIT Y REPORT
In this report, we share our progress against the sustainability goals laid out in our People, Places & Planet plan, across both Exodus Travels and sister brand,Headwater. Our progress towards meeting some of our People, Places & Planet goals was unfortunately delayed or extended due to the impact of COVID-19, both through the pause in trip operation and the reduced staff capacity, so this report encompasses our activity in both 2020 and 2021. Much of the activity and measurement in these two years was focused on establishing our frameworks, data-gathering methods and processes for the first time. So, although this report doesn’t highlight comparative data demonstrating year on year progress, it does seek to set the context and baseline for the future.
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I N TR O DUC TIO N
O U R M I SS I O N
Improve life through travel, for the places we visit, the people we meet and the planet we explore.
The Exodus Travels Foundation provides a key channel through which we pursue our People, Places & Planet goals. Last year, we published an Impact Report summarising Foundation activity during 2020. This year, we have integrated our Foundation activity into this wider report. Any content which relates to our Foundation activity is tagged with our little Foundation globe icon, so that it can be easily identified.
S L UG T IT LE HERE
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HOW WE DEVELOPED OUR
People, Places & Planet plan Back in 2019, we started the process of developing our first sustainability strategy, to consolidate and accelerate our efforts to reduce any negative impacts of our adventures and grow the social and environmental benefits they could bring to the communities and environments we visit. We started, by undertaking a “materiality assessment”. This involved a survey of our customers, staff and partners across the globe and some work around understanding the external context to our business. In doing so, we were able to identify key social and environmental impact areas we should prioritise in our sustainability activity.
EXODUS TRAVELS MATERIALIT Y MATRIX Protecting wildlife and the natural environment Reducing waste
Combatting climate change
Importance for our Stakeholders (customers, staff, supplier and agent partners)
Improving employment opportunities Tackling over-tourism
Improving access to healthcare
Promoting gender equality
Ensuring travel is inclusive and accessible to all
Supporting local business and enterprise
Improving education opportunities
Providing disaster relief
Ensuring travel is inclusive and accessible to all
Importance for the long-term sustainability of our business (as defined by our senior leadership team) =
D efined as a priority external factor, in consideration of our political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental context.
The exercise established that our priority impact areas included community economic empowerment, conservation, waste reduction and climate action, which enabled us to create our People, Places & Planet Plan. This is our main framework for targets we have set ourselves to help achieve our overall mission to, “Improve life through travel, for the places we visit the people we meet and the planet we explore.” 6
SLU G TITLE HERE
Protecting cultural heritage and tradition
OUR PEOPLE, PLACES & PLANE T PLAN
IMPROVE LIFE THROUGH TRAVEL, IN THE PLACES WE VISIT, FOR THE PEOPLE WE MEET, ON THE PLANE T WE EXPLORE
PEOPLE
PLACES
PLANET
PRIORITY FOCUS AREA:
PRIORITY FOCUS AREAS:
PRIORITY FOCUS AREA:
Economically empowering communities
Protecting wildlife, biodiversity and reducing waste.
Taking action on climate change
OUR TRIPS
OUR OFFICES OUR GIVING
D E V E LO P I NG OU R PL AN
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SE T TING GOALS AND MEASURING PROGRESS Each year, we use our People, Places & Planet framework to set goals and KPIs in each pillar and channel. We use a combination of data sources to measure our progress against these goals, including our annual supplier sustainability survey, carbon reporting process, customer surveys and holiday impact forms, and our Exodus Travels Foundation impact measurement process. In the following pages, we report back on our progress against the goals we set in 2020 and 2021, followed by an overview of our strategy for the coming 3 years.
WORKING TOWARDS THE UN SDGS We have aligned the goals in our People, Places & Planet plan to six of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the KPIs that sit under them:
You can find out more about the UN Sustainable Development Goals at sdgs.un.org
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DEV ELO PING O UR PL A N
PEOPLE
S L UG T IT LE HERE
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PEOPLE Goals The ‘People’ pillar of our People, Places & Planet plan is all about how we engage with the communities across our destinations – ensuring our adventures benefit their lives as much as possible. Here we report on progress against our People goals in 2020 and 2021.
GOAL IMPROVE LIFE FOR 5,000 PEOPLE IN HARD TO REACH PLACES.
PROGRESS >> 5,445 lives were improved in hard-to-reach places, through the projects of the Exodus Travels Foundation in 2021 (see page 12), and for 2020 impact stats, see our Impact Report 2020 NEXT STEPS >>>> We recognise that sustainable social impact should be evidenced by more than just a beneficiary count, so rather than setting a target related to the number of lives improved in our 2025 strategy (see page 44) we’ve set a goal to “measurably increase employment and income generation opportunities, through tourism, for disadvantaged, underrepresented and hard-to-reach communities.” We aim to develop the Exodus Travels Foundation’s impact monitoring methods to better track our progress.
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation 10
P EOPLE
The food packages have given me and m purpose. I can keep busy knowing I am poorest sections of society. I am proud way, especially helping feed the garba tirelessly throughout the pandemic ha streets clean for us. Karma Sherpa Lama Exodus Travels Operator
my family a m helping some of the I can help in a small age workers who ave been keeping our
GOAL FUND 25 LIFE-CHANGING INITIATIVES THROUGH OUR COMMUNIT Y KICKSTART PROJEC T. PROGRESS >> We fell short of our target, funding 14 initiatives launched across 13 countries during 2020 and 2021, serving 4,927 beneficiaries, in addition to some environmental and conservation benefits. However, we were delighted that this project - and the efforts of our dedicated network of partners who implemented this support in their regions - were recognised by two industry awards (see below). NEXT STEPS >>>> We are continuing to receive applications from our supplier partners and engaging with them to understand how this project can best support their communities and regions. We also aim to keep our customers up to date and fundraise for this project through Exodus’ communications channels.
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation
SPOTLIGHT ON
Communit y Kickstart Project We are continuing to extend the reach of our Community Kickstart Project to help local communities in need, protect wildlife and ecosystems, and provide education and skills training for locals. The project supports and empowers our local operators, leaders, porters and guides by offering them small grants to invest in local, grass roots initiatives, helping them to support their communities. The positive impact is evident through initiatives like the ‘Maasai Women’s Empowerment Workshop’, run by our partner in Kenya, which focused on building women’s resilience, and ‘Karma’s Food Packages’ through which our local partner and tour leaders in Nepal delivered 1,000 food parcels to needy people in Kathmandu during the pandemic. The inspiring commitment of our operators and leaders in implementing these initiatives was recognised through a gold WTM Responsible Tourism Award, for ‘sustaining employees and communities throughout the pandemic’, along with bronze in Wanderlust’s ‘best response to the pandemic’ category. FIND OUT MORE: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/FOUNDATION/KICKSTART
PEOPLE
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IMPACT 2021
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation
5,445 LIVES IMPROVED IN HARD-TO-REACH PLACES, INCLUDING...
8
900
129
FEMALE PORTERS
CHILDREN GIVEN EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
TRAINED AS MOUNTAIN GUIDES
TREES PLANTED IN INDIA
16 48
EMERGENCY FOOD PARCELS DISTRIBUTED
3000
COUNTLESS HAPPIER SHARKS, ELEPHANTS, IMPALAS, DUIKERS AND OTHER CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL
HOT MEALS
SERVED TO SCHOOL CHILDREN IN NAMIBIA
1125
FREEDOM KIT BAGS DELIVERED IN NEPAL FOR A FULL LIST OF PROJEC TS FUNDED DURING 2021, SEE PAGE 41 12
P EOPLE
GOAL ESTABLISH A DISASTER RESPONSE AND FUNDING PLAN SHOULD ANY OF OUR KEY DESTINATIONS BE HIT.
PROGRESS >> The Exodus Travels Foundation’s Trustees agreed to maintain a £5,000 reserve to enable rapid, initial funding in the wake of any disasters. This reserve has been put into practice in response to both the Australian bush fires and the initial impact of COVID-19, helping to kickstart onward fundraising. We also agreed a ‘soft partnership’ with the disaster relief NGO, RE:ACT, who share our vision of operating in hard-to-reach places, so that we can have an expert effective channel through which to deliver any funding if necessary. Our COVID-19 Emergency Relief Appeals in 2021 (see below) helped us establish this process for the quick set up of fundraising appeals and subsequent disbursal of funds via our partners. NEXT STEPS >>>> None.
SPOTLIGHT ON
COVID-19 Emergency Relief As the pandemic continued into Spring 2021, families in Nepal and India began to struggle. Our COVID emergency relief provided 1,000 food parcels to 1,755 people, including 200 Indian tribal families, 21 children in Nepal, 6 elderly people at Kyanjin Gompa Old People’s Home in Nepal, 108 trek staff across Nepal and India and 124 families in Nepal. In December 2021, we extended our appeal to Zambia, where the economic impact of a continued lack of tourism was causing increasing poverty. Parcels containing a month’s worth of food were provided for 12 of our trek and support staff and their families, and 125 vulnerable children. Most of those children attend a Learning Centre set up by our partner, Baraka, and 40 of them attend the Chawama Child Development Trust - a football organisation based in a poverty-stricken shanty town. FIND OUT MORE: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/FOUNDATION
PEOPLE
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GOAL SUPPORT THE INCREASE OF EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN ACROSS OUR DESTINATION COMMUNITIES. PROGRESS >> Our baseline Supplier Sustainability Survey gave us an understanding of the current ratio of men to women employed by our trips (see page 16). We have not yet engaged further with our suppliers about improving this ratio, although, through the Exodus Travels Foundation, we have been able to contribute towards this aim through our Kilimanjaro Porter Project (see below). We have also supported other women’s empowerment activity, such as our Freedom Kit Bag Project and Masai Women’s Empowerment initiative, supported by the Community Kickstart Project. NEXT STEPS >>>> As some suppliers have been more proactive and successful in intentionally pursuing gender equality in employment opportunity, we plan to facilitate knowledge sharing between our suppliers regarding how to proactively support the increase of employment for women in their regions.
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation SPOTLIGHT ON
Mountain Lioness Scholarship Through our Mountain Lioness Scholarship (part of our wider Kilimanjaro Porter Project) we have committed to support 30 women to become qualified mountain guides over 3 years. The scholarship will significantly increase their income opportunities, and provide an example to other women in their communities what is possible. 18 Lionesses have been trained since the scholarship’s launch in 2020, with a further 12 to undertake training in 2022. Faith Kaanaeli NNko is a recent graduate who is now employed as a guide, to take people to ‘the roof of Africa’. She explained, “Becoming a female mountain guide enabled me to support my children. I say to other women, let’s work hard, there is a world out there waiting for us!” Our mini documentary, ‘Ngumu’, shines a spotlight on these pioneering women who are finding employment in this male-dominated world, and showing their sheer resilience during the climb. FIND OUT MORE: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/MOUNTAIN-LIONESS-SCHOLARSHIP
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P EOPLE
GOAL MEASURE THE ECONOMIC IMPAC T OUR TRIPS HAVE ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND SE T OURSELVES A GOAL FOR IMPROVING THIS. PROGRESS >> We have not yet identified the best way to set a meaningful goal for improving the economic impact of our trips on destination communities, but we have started to get an understanding of the current impact through our Supplier Sustainability Survey (see page 16). NEXT STEPS >>>> One of the headline goals in our 2025 Sustainability Strategy (see page 44) is to “measurably increase employment and income generation opportunities through tourism for disadvantaged, underrepresented and hard-to-reach communities”. In pursuit of this goal, we intend to develop a better understanding of the economic impact of our trips on communities, and identify areas for improvement.
PEOPLE
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ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES Our Supplier Sustainability Surveys in 2020 and 2022 have given us an idea of how our trips currently support the local economies of our destinations. This baseline will help us set and pursue our goal to measurably increase this economic empowerment (see page 15).
80 % OF NIGHTS
GE NDE R EQUALIT Y IN ECONOMIC OPPORTUNIT Y
AC ROSS OUR TRIPS ARE IN LOC ALLY OWNE D ACCOMMODATION
35%
91% OF MEALS
PROVIDE D AC ROSS OUR TRIPS ARE FROM LOC ALLY OWNE D RESTAUR ANTS OR BUSINESSES
70% 16
P EOPLE
OF THE PEOPLE EMPLOYED BY OUR TRIPS WERE WOMEN IN 2020, RISING TO
40%
AT THE START OF 2022
OF TRIPS
OUR OPERATOR PARTNERS ARE AC TIVELY TRYING TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF WOMEN EMPLOYED ACROSS
PROVIDE EMPLOYME NT DURING LOW OR SHOULDE R SE ASON
OF OUR TRIPS
40%
PLACES
S L UG T IT LE HERE
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PLACES Goals The ‘Places’ pillar of our People, Places & Planet plan is all about how we seek to protect and benefit the places we explore on our adventures, primarily focusing on nature conservation and regeneration, including animal welfare and waste reduction. Here, we report on progress against our Places goals in 2020 and 2021.
PHOTO CREDITS: BRUNO D’AMICI
GOAL MEASURABLY SUPPORT CONSERVATION OF WILDLIFE AND BIODIVERSIT Y THROUGH OUR TRIPS AND FOUNDATION. PROGRESS >> Through our baseline Supplier Sustainability Surveys, we gained a better understanding of how biodiversity is currently being supported through our trips (see page 24). Additionally, we established our partnership with Rewilding Europe at the start of 2021, and together launched the ‘Nature and Carbon Corridors Project’ in the Italian Apennines (see opposite page), enabling us to commit to rewilding 100 square metres for every passenger. By the end of 2021, our funding had enabled baseline studies of biodiversity and carbon capture potential in the region, vital community engagement and the drawing up of a milestone agreement with local municipalities for the rewilding of 300 hectares, due to be signed in 2022. Through the Exodus Travels Foundation, we were able to extend this support of wildlife and biodiversity, funding the planting of 6,800 trees in remote parts of India and Nepal, to bring both environmental and income benefits to local communities, continuing to raise funds for conservation of the Bengal Tiger through Paul Goldstein’s Worth More Alive campaign (see page 20) and launching our Free to Roam Project to support conservation of elephants and other wildlife in Kenya. NEXT STEPS >>>> Through our Nature Net Positive commitment, we have set ourselves a number of further targets to support the conservation and restoration of biodiversity across our destinations (see page 45 for more). We are continuing our partnership with Rewilding Europe this year, expanding our support to their work in the Velebit Mountains and Croatia. We are also working with new partners, NatureMetrics, to enable our customers to collect eDNA samples on our trips, to help build the eBioAtlas – the IUCN’s pioneering initiative to map species globally and support vital conservation and regeneration work.
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation 18
P L ACES
SPOTLIGHT ON
Our partnership with Rewilding Europe In the face of climate crisis and biodiversity loss, we recognise the crucial need to protect our natural ecosystems and restore biodiversity. In January 2021, we launched our partnership with biodiversity experts, Rewilding Europe, and together launched the Nature and Carbon Corridors project in the Italian Apennines. The project aims to create 5 nature corridors that regenerate natural habitats and allow safe passage for wildlife. Once rewilded, this area will provide a rich carbon sink, with the potential to remove 85,000 tonnes of carbon over five years. Our new ‘Rewilding the Apennines’ trip aims to inspire customers and encourage nature-based tourism, with all trip profits being donated to support Rewilding Europe’s work. Our short film, ‘Restoring Italy’s Wild Heart’ explores Italy’s natural landscapes, highlighting the positive impact that rewilding can have on local communities and the natural habitat on their doorstep. FIND OUT MORE: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/REWILDING
WATCH ‘RESTORING ITALY’S WILD HEART’ WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/REWILDING
PL ACES
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GOAL IMPLEMENT ABTA ANIMAL WELFARE GUIDELINES AS A STANDARD ACROSS ALL TRIPS, AND PUBLISH OUR ANIMAL WELFARE POLICY. PROGRESS >> We updated our animal welfare policy following ABTA’s own updated guidelines, published this online and incorporated it into our supplier sustainability minimum standards. NEXT STEPS >>>> As part of our Nature Net Positive commitment (see page 45), we have set ourselves a target to implement a regular animal welfare audit process, to better ensure our partners and other suppliers are adhering to our animal welfare policy.
SPOTLIGHT ON
Expert guide and award-winning wildlife photographer, Paul Goldstein, launched the Worth More Alive campaign over a decade ago, to advance the protection of the endangered Bengal Tiger. In his latest fundraising efforts, Paul set a target of £100,000 to fund the renovation of two schools in Bandhavgarh, helping deliver conservation’s benefits to local communities, engaging them in protecting their stripy neighbours. In pursuit of his target, Paul completed both the Brighton and London Marathons in 2021, wearing his now famous tiger suit, and he and his suit plan to compete in the epic Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon on 29th May 2022. The campaign has already raised an incredible £84,300 and Paul is looking forward to smashing the £100,000 target in the upcoming months. FIND OUT MORE: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/TIGER
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P L ACES
PL ACES
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SINGLE-US ACROSS OU
GOAL ELIMINATE PLASTICS FROM PACKED LUNCHES AND PICNICS ON OUR TRIPS. PROGRESS >> We didn’t achieve this goal, primarily due to the COVID-19 related pause in trip operation. However, we established our baseline for plastic waste reduction across our trips, through our Supplier Sustainability Survey (see key findings on right).
Through our Supplie Sur veys in 2020 and understanding of cur use plastic across ou a baseline for our go as best practice shar our network:
NEXT STEPS >>>> We have rolled this goal forward and increased our ambition – setting ourselves the target of eliminating all directly provided single-use plastics from our trips by the end of 2022 (as part of our Nature Net Positive commitment – see page 45).
GOAL CONTINUE TO KEEP 99% OF OUR TRIPS FREE FROM SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BOT TLES PROGRESS >> Our Ban the Bottle initiative, launched back in 2016, resulted in the elimination of single-use plastic bottles across 99% of our trips (the only exceptions being situations in which there were no alternatives, e.g. overnight train journeys in India). However, our Supplier Sustainability Survey showed a few of these bottles creeping back into our supply chain, undoubtedly due to COVID-19 risk reduction efforts (see key findings on right). NEXT STEPS >>>> We have already reinforced our ‘bottle ban’ to suppliers, and our efforts to eliminate all single-use plastics will encompass bottles too. We will continue to engage customers in bringing reusable water bottles on our trips.
ACROSS OUR TRIPS WHICH ARE NOT YE T SINGLE-USE PLASTIC FREE,ON AVERAGE 4 PIECES OF SINGLE-USE PLASTIC ARE PROVIDED TO CUSTOMERS DURING A TRIP.
SINGLE-USE PLASTIC FOOD WRAPPING IS USED ACROSS
7%
OF OUR TRIPS
22
P L ACES
SE PLASTICS UR TRIPS:
r Sustainabilit y d 2022, we gained an rrent levels of single ur trips, which provides oals in this area, as well ring oppor tunities within
82%
83 %
OPERATORS ACROSS
OF OUR TRIPS
ARE AC TIVELY USING RE-USABLE OR BIODEGRADABLE ALTERNATIVES INSTEAD OF SINGLE-USE PLASTICS, SUCH AS RE-USABLE FOOD CONTAINERS AND BIODEGRADABLE FOOD WRAPPING
OF OUR TRIPS ARE FREE OF SINGLE-USE PLASTICS (EXCLUDING THOSE PROVIDED IN HOTEL ROOMS)
(UP FROM 60% IN 2020)
39% SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BOT TLES ARE STILL USED ACROSS
9%
OF OUR TRIPS SINGLE-USE PLASTIC CUPS OR PLATES ARE USED ACROSS
(UP FROM 1% IN 2018)
OF TRIP NIGHTS ARE SPENT IN ACCOMMODATION THAT SUPPLIES SINGLE-USE TOILE TRY BOT TLES (DOWN FROM ALMOST 50% IN 2020)
6%
OF OUR TRIPS
PL ACES
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Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration On average, just over 2 protected natural spaces are visited on ever y trip, meaning funding and an economic incentive for local communities to continue in conservation. However, there are many other ways in which our local net work of operator partners are proactively supporting the protection and regeneration of biodiversit y through our trips; currently, operators for 65% of our trips say they have policies or practices which proactively support nature conservation and restoration. Here are just a few examples of the ways in which this is being done…
SPAIN Brown bear reintroduction ECUADOR Biogas production from organic waste
PERU Engaging communities in af forestation
AND MANY MORE.. In addition to those highlighted, the yellow points represent the location of a number of other exciting initiatives that are being run or supported by our operators:
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P L ACES
PORTUGAL On-hike rubbish pick-up
• Staf f-run vegetable gardens to feed guests in Namibia • Forest restoration, Finland and Greece • Marsican Bear protection, Italy • Wildlife conservation research, Bulgaria
• Community organic food production in Spain • Conservation education for travellers in France, New Zealand and Namibia • Turtle reserve, Oman • Gobi Bear protection, Mongolia
JORDAN Conservation education for travellers
CAMBODIA Planting native trees
ITALY Conservation education for local schoolchildren
THE MALDIVES Coral nurseries INDONESIA Community organic farm development
ZAMBIA Worm-farming (food waste to fertiliser)
• Panda bear conservation in China • Protection of endangered species, Madagascar • Great Lakes protection in Uganda • Saving sausage trees in Botswana
• Encouraging communities to avoid soil-eroding practices in Kenya • Annual beach cleaning in Sri Lanka • Biofuel vehicles in USA • Waste elimination in the Galapagos
VIE TNAM Conservation education for local communities
• Avoiding the beaten track in Italy and India • Conservation education for local schoolchildren in Tanzania, Greece, Italy and Romania • Planting native trees and rewilding in Wales, Cambodia and Vietnam
PL ACES
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GOAL REDUCE AS MUCH FURTHER WASTE AS POSSIBLE ACROSS TRIPS, PARTICULARLY FOOD WASTE. PROGRESS >> The pause in trip operations meant we didn’t have much opportunity to pursue this goal, but – as in the area of single-use plastics – our Supplier Sustainability Survey gave us the opportunity to understand how our supplier partners currently deal with food waste. Operators for 58% of our trips say they make use of leftover food, either through redistribution to staff, local communities or use for animal feed or compost. Operators for 18% of our trips say they avoid food waste altogether by ensuring only what’s needed is prepared; clearly the optimal approach where it can be implemented. NEXT STEPS >>>> As part of our Nature Net Positive plan (see page 45), we have set ourselves a target to measurably reduce food waste across our trips. This requires both engagement with our suppliers and our customers, as well as a greater understanding of where food waste primarily occurs. One key insight is that 44% of meals included across our itineraries are currently served as buffets, which is sometimes purported to lead to higher levels of food waste than à la carte dining; this is an area we seek to understand further, in conjunction with our suppliers, to see if it provides an opportunity to reduce food waste.
SPOTLIGHT ON
Eco-Brick Building Initiative Our Community Kickstart Project is all about enabling our global partners to support and empower their local communities. The Ecobrick building initiative in Bukit Lawang, Indonesia, has done exactly that, facilitated by our local Tour Leader, Elly. Villagers (young people in particular) have been collecting plastic bottles in their hometowns and filling them with waste in order to craft bricks, with which to build an educational café. The café will house an organic vegetable garden and be a hub for all kinds of community activity, such as traditional dance, cooking classes, environmental education, and English lessons. The initiative has developed a sense of pride for the local people in their diverse surroundings and natural ecosystems and will support income generation through tourism. FIND OUT MORE: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/FOUNDATION/KICKSTART /ECOBRICK-BUILDING
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P L ACES
PLANET
S L UG T IT LE HERE
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PLANET Goals
THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF OUR
BUSINESS
The ‘Planet’ pillar of our People, Places & Planet plan is all about how we take action on climate change – seeking to understand, reduce and mitigate the carbon footprint of our offices and adventures. Here, we report on progress against our Planet goals in 2020 and 2021.
GOAL MEASURE OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT (ACROSS ALL OFFICES AND TRIPS). PROGRESS >> We worked with a consultancy to measure our carbon footprint baseline. This included the footprint of our offices (across the UK, North America and Australia) and the trips we ran in 2019 (see page 29). To allow for the wide range of different trips in our portfolio, we selected six representative trips and measured carbon emissions of the transport, accommodation, activities, food and plastics (embodied carbon) used on these trips (see page 29). We then multiplied their footprint according to the number of trips taken in that year that they represent. NEXT STEPS >>>> Although we didn’t move as fast on this goal as intended, we’re now establishing a process for measuring the footprint of every one of our trips, with a view to ‘carbon labelling’ them in the coming year – publishing the footprint of each to help inform our customers.
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P L A NET
THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF OUR
TRIPS Our first step in measuring the carbon footprint of our trips was to select six trips which best represented our entire portfolio and working out the carbon footprint of each (including carbon emissions related to transport, accommodation, activities and food). We published this data to help inform our customers, as well as multiplying the footprint of each representative trip according to the number of trips taken in our baseline year (2019) in order to get an idea of the total footprint of our trips.
SOLD FLIGHTS TO AND FROM OUR TRIPS* 41,730 TONNES CO2E
* Only flights sold by Exodus and its sub-brands have been included; where passengers book their own flights these are accounted for separately according to the GHG Protocol Standard. However, we estimated the footprint of customer booked flights to be 47,686 tonnes CO2e.
TRIPS
(ACCOMMODATION, IN-TRIP TRANSPORT, AC TIVITIES, FOOD) 16,010 TONNES CO2E
OFFICE 811 TONNES CO2E
BUSINESS TRAVEL 600 TONNES CO2E
Representative footprints for flights from/to trip (in kg CO2e)
Trip footprint (in kg CO2e)
Trip category
Representative trip
Accommodation
Activities
Food and drink
Sea transport
In-trip transport
Apportionment of of fice emissions
Trip total
Flights from/ to Australia (Melbourne)
Flights from/to UK (London)
Flights to/from North America (Toronto)
European trekking
Walking the Amalfi Coast
207
13
21
–
10
32
283
5,147
542
2,421
European self-guided
Classic Catalan Cycling
128
115
13
–
15
32
203
3,613
396
2,224
Rest-of-world cycling
Cycling Vietnam
218
62
29
–
67
32
408
2,222
3,401
4,532
Rest-of-world culture/ wildlife/ cycle/family
Discover Costa Rica
132
42
34
–
41
32
281
4,735
2,891
1,243
Rest-of-world trekking
Everest Base Camp Trek
103
26
11
–
132
32
30 4
3,183
2,432
3,975
Polar/cruise expedition
Antarctic Explorer
6
19
86
3,201
1
32
3,345
1,536
4,446
3,659
PL AN ET
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GOAL SE T A TARGE T FOR REDUCING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF OUR OFFICES AND TRIPS, AND START REDUCING. PROGRESS >> At the start of 2021, we set a science-based target to reduce the carbon footprint of our offices and trips (per passenger) by 50% by 2030 against our 2019 baseline. This target includes transport, accommodation, activities and food across our trips, but excludes transport to and from our trips because of the limited amount of control we have on decarbonisation across the aviation sector. (This doesn’t mean we won’t be doing what we can in this area; see our train travel target below.) For more on this target, see our Carbon Management web page. Progress was made towards our office carbon reduction goals through engagement of our UK office’s landlord to switch the office to a renewable energy tariff, but any proactive reduction initiatives across our trips were delayed, primarily by the pause of our trip operations across 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. NEXT STEPS >>>> Once we have measured the footprint of all of our trips more closely, we will develop a more detailed ‘roadmap’ towards our 2030 goal. This work will be driven by our ‘Low Carbon Lab’ (see page 31) who are already busy investigating and exploring the most effective ways to reduce the carbon footprint of our adventures.
GOAL HELP MITIGATE OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT THROUGH FUNDING A BIODIVERSIT Y PROTEC TION PROJEC T. PROGRESS >> We established our partnership with Rewilding Europe at the start of 2021, and together launched the ‘Nature and Carbon Corridors Project’ in the Italian Apennines (see page 19), with a potential to sequester 85,000 tonnes of carbon in its first five years. At the same time, we started compensating for all carbon emitted by our trips and the flights we sold through purchase of Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) carbon credits, derived from the REDD+ Isangi forest conservation project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (purchased through South Pole). NEXT STEPS >>>> We have expanded our rewilding commitment into our broader Nature Net Positive commitment (see page 45), which encompasses both our continued commitment to compensate for all trip and flight carbon emissions, and also expanded support for biodiversity conservation and regeneration.
I joined the Low Carbon L I am very aware of the im of climate change and I t do what I can to be more p friendly where possible i personal life. Joining the has given me an opportun have a greater understan of, and an involvement i development of our comm to sustainability and ca footprint reduction going forward.
Sarah Cope Low Carbon Lab Member
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P L A NET
Lab as mpacts try to planet in my e team nity to nding in, the mitment arbon n
r
IMAGE
SPOTLIGHT ON
Low Carbon Lab: In late 2021, we set up our ‘Low Carbon Lab’, a group of people from across our product team who meet fortnightly to investigate opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of our trips. So far, they’ve been spearheading the roll out of our trip carbon footprint measurement process, investigating the opportunities to both replace and reduce the impact of internal flights on our trips, and learning about the carbon impact of the food consumed on our trips. They will also be looking at the carbon footprint of our accommodation choices, in-trip transport and opportunities to start the transition to electric vehicles, and a range of other aspects of carbon management. S L UG T IT LE HERE
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GOAL MAKE TRAIN TRAVEL BOOKING AVAILABLE TO AT LEAST 25% OF OUR PASSENGERS. PROGRESS >> On Earth Day in April 2021, we launched our train travel offering, meaning we can now book train travel for our customers – instead of flights – for 16 of our most popular European trips. Our sister brand, Headwater, who run our selfguided trips, already offer this service across all of their trips, meaning we can now book train travel to over 30% of our total portfolio of trips [see below]. NEXT STEPS >>>> COVID-19 has not only inhibited travel, it has also heavily disrupted train services to and across Europe, making for a difficult time to pilot our train travel booking service. However, as the dust settles, we aim to keep refining and expanding this service, while encouraging more of our customers to travel by train rather than plane to their adventures.
SPOTLIGHT ON
Train Travel Offering
Increasingly, many of our customers tell us that they would like the option to take the train to our trips where possible. In fact, in our last sustainability survey 53% of customers said they are now more interested in rail travel than they were 5 years ago. So in 2021, we launched our rail service, booking train travel packages to 16 of our more popular European trips from the UK, with an intention to expand this offering over time. Rail not only offers a significantly lower carbon mode of transport (often emitting up to 80% less carbon than flying) but also offers the opportunity for our customers to extend their Europea adventures, indulging in the delights of ‘slow travel’, passing through stunning landscapes and, in some cases, stopping overnight in some beautiful cities. FIND OUT MORE: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/RESPONSIBLE-TRAVEL/TAKE-THE-TRAIN
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P L A NET
GOAL CONTINUE THE CROSS SEC TOR COLLABORATION AND ADVOCACY REQUIRED FOR LONGER-TERM SOLUTIONS. PROGRESS >> Since the start of 2020, when we became of founding signatory of Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency (TDCE), we have continued to be an active member of their voluntary team. As a sector-wider movement to accelerate climate action, TDCE was a key actor in the creation of the Glasgow Declaration, a climate commitment launched in conjunction with the UN, WTTC and others at COP26 – further amplifying to ‘call-toaction’ for a decarbonised tourism industry. Alongside this, we sit on ABTA’s Sustainable Tourism Committee and proactively seek opportunities to share learnings with fellow travel companies, and join peers in the sector to call for an acceleration of climate and biodiversity action. NEXT STEPS >>>> As part of our Nature Net Positive commitment (see page 45) we have set targets to both continue to collaborate across the sector to advance and advocate for climate action, and to do what we can to contribute to advances in the sector’s nature regeneration strategy and activity. We have started to implement this by sharing our Nature Net Positive plan, and the sources used to develop it, on our website, in the hope it’ll help provide a shortcut or springboard for other travel companies seeking to set similar targets.
y,
n
an
I’ve never really enjoyed flying and over the years I’ve become increasingly concerned about climate change. For me, the train journey is an essential part of the holiday experience, and it makes a trip more of an adventure Barbara Wilcox Exodus Travels Customer
PL AN ET
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ENGAGEMENT & Communications In addition to our People, Places & Planet goals for 2020 and 2021, we set ourselves some general goals in relation to engagement, fundraising and communications. Here we report on progress against these goals.
GOAL BE T TER ENGAGE OUR EXTERNAL AUDIENCE IN OUR SUSTAINABILIT Y AC TIVIT Y. PROGRESS >> We have now fully integrated our sustainability engagement activity into our general marketing plan and processes, to ensure regular communications across emails, social media, events (in person and virtual) and PR. We have established a quarterly Exodus Travels Foundation news email to update supporters on our Foundation activity in particular, and published our first Impact Report in 2021. However, we still have a way to go – in our latest customer survey in 2021, respondents scored us on average 7.6 out of 10 for how socially and environmentally responsible they felt we were as a company, down from 7.7 out of 10 in 2019. The ‘open responses’ on this survey suggest much of this score is due to a growing awareness of the carbon footprint of travel in general against a backdrop of climate crisis, but it also demonstrates that we need to work harder – through our communications and through our tour leaders – at engaging with customers on our sustainability ethos and activity, and on how they can play their part, as well as continuing to benefit from their feedback. NEXT STEPS >>>> We are currently in the process of rolling out new sustainable travel information across the web pages for every single trip. This will be a lot more comprehensive and consistent than previous information, giving customers a good picture of how their trip impacts people, places and planet. We also intend to better equip our Tour Leaders to do just this, through our supplier engagement work (see page 36). Additionally, we are revising the sustainability related question on our Holiday Evaluation Form, to get a better understanding of how much customers know and engage in our sustainability activity.
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation 34
EN GAG EMENT & COM M U N ICATIO N S
GOAL BE T TER ENGAGE AND EDUCATE STAFF ON OUR SUSTAINABILIT Y AC TIVIT Y, POLICIES AND MESSAGING. PROGRESS >> In our 2021 staff survey, 87% of staff said they had a clear understanding of the business’s vision, values and purpose, an improvement on 2019, when only 72% of staff said they felt the vision was clear and 80% said they fully supported the values for which the business stood. Frequent all-staff communications and a monthly sustainability section in our monthly all staff meeting enables us to keep staff updated on our sustainability activity, and we developed a sustainability crib sheet for all customer-facing staff, to give them an easy reference for any conversations with customers. A number of staff actively engage in pursuing our sustainability goals, for example, building and leading global fundraising campaigns (see below). NEXT STEPS >>>> We are currently designing a programme that will enable many more staff to proactively engage with our sustainability agenda, either by identifying ways in which their ‘business as usual’ remit can help deliver on our goals, or by taking on additional tasks or workstreams in areas they’re passionate about.
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation
SPOTLIGHT ON
Exodus to Kathmandu The word ‘exodus’ means a collective movement of people. Collectively, in support of our COVID Emergency Relief Appeal, our staff walked, ran, and cycled the distance between our London office and Kathmandu - no less than 4,557 miles! The group effort included more than just our staff - a dog named Max and a pony named Lottie also participated, adding an extra 26 miles to the journey. The final distance covered was 5,831 miles, taking us as far as the Myanmar and Laos border which was a fantastic achievement. Overall, the challenge raised £3,153 which provided essential food aid and health kits for our trekking colleagues in Nepal and India. FIND OUT MORE: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/FOUNDATION/EXODUS-TO-KATHMANDU
E NGAG E M E NT & COM M UNICAT ION S
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GOAL BET TER COMMUNICATE SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED EXPECTATIONS TO SUPPLIERS AND BET TER ENGAGE THEM IN HELPING TO ACHIEVE OUR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL TARGETS. PROGRESS >> Our progress against this goal was heavily delayed by COVID-19’s pause to global tourism. However, in 2020, we updated our supplier contract with sustainable travel minimum standards aligned to our People, Places & Planet goals, and at the end of 2021, we launched our quarterly supplier sustainability news and set up our Destination Community Council [see page 38]. Both have helped create further communications channels with our supplier network, in order to both engage and activate them around our sustainability goals, but also, crucially, to seek their input and expertise in building and implementing these. NEXT STEPS >>>> We will soon be updating our operator and tour leader handbooks and training to better reflect our latest sustainability policies and goals. Having only just started to expand our supplier sustainability engagement in earnest, we look forward to better establishing our Destination Community Council, inviting their input on how we can work more effectively with our suppliers on ensuring our adventures are as sustainable as possible. We have a lot to learn from the many initiatives they are already driving across our destinations (see examples of this on page 24).
GOAL COLLABORATE WITH OTHER BRANDS ACROSS EXODUS TRAVELS ’ PARENT COMPANY (TRAVELOPIA) IN IMPROVING SUSTAINABILIT Y ACROSS THE GROUP. PROGRESS >> In mid-2021, Exodus Travels’ Managing Director, Sam Seward, took on the role of Chief Sustainability Officer for Travelopia. He and Exodus’ Head of Sustainability have been working to set and implement a strategy across Travelopia’s 27 travel brands, already rolling out sustainable travel minimum standards, an animal welfare policy and a carbon reporting process across the group. NEXT STEPS >>>> Exodus Travels will continue to support the development of this group-wide strategy, assisting and collaborating with the sustainability leads across the other brands in developing their own brands’ sustainability activity.
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EN GAG EMENT & COM M U N ICATIO N S
GOAL FURTHER DEFINE THE EXODUS TRAVELS FOUNDATION’S MISSION AND FOCUS, AND APPOINT TWO NEW TRUSTEES. PROGRESS >> Working with Trustees to develop the Foundation’s ‘Theory of Change’, we defined more clearly the three focus areas of our funding, and the outcomes we would want to see as a result (see page 40). This has helped streamline and focus our grant-making decisions significantly. The process of identifying and appointing two new trustees was significantly delayed by the impacts of COVID-19 on both Foundation income from Exodus and ETF management capacity. We finally started the recruitment process towards the end of 2021, advertising the role spec across social channels and in communications to particularly our more loyal customers. NEXT STEPS >>>> The next step in extending the effectiveness and impact of our grant-making will be to develop both Foundation income and management capacity. We are delighted to be welcoming on board two new Trustees (see page 42) who will not only help us develop this aspect of our Foundation’s activity, but will also apply their expertise to development of our governance, fundraising and communications.
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation
GOAL INCREASE EXODUS TRAVELS FOUNDATION INCOME FROM CUSTOMERS AND STAFF. PROGRESS >> Donations to our Foundation (excluding Exodus Travels’ corporate donations) increased by 80% between 2020 and 2021, primarily due to a generous response from Exodus’ clients to our COVID-19 Emergency Response Appeals (see page 13), as well as Paul Goldstein’s fantastic fundraising efforts for tiger conservation (see page 20). For similar reasons, the number of new donors increased by 74% between 2020 and 2021, significantly growing the community of Foundation supporters. NEXT STEPS >>>> We have set ourselves a target to triple our donor income by 2025, from 2020 levels, to £100,000 per year. A big part of this increase is projected to come from a better integration of the opportunity to give to the Foundation into Exodus Travels’ customer journey. Building capacity to support the Foundation’s work, both on the Exodus Travels team and the Trustee board, will help enable more regular engagement and fundraising activity with existing and potential donors, both in Exodus’ staff and customer networks.
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation E NGAG E M E NT & COM M UNICAT ION S
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INTRODUCING
Our Destination Community Council At the end of last year, we established our Destination Community Council. It aims to convene a group of global partners (operators, tour leaders or suppliers) who can broadly represent our destination communities. All council members have been involved in transformative social and environmental initiatives across different regions, and their voice, insight and unrivalled expertise will be invaluable as we continue to implement our sustainability goals.
KARMA LAMA Nepal
One initiative Karma has been actively involved in is ‘Karma’s Food Packages’. During lockdown, he and his staff worked diligently to distribute baked bread parcels to people in need across the community in Kathmandu. Passionate about plastic reduction and organic farming, Karma helped to empower local staff living in remote villages by teaching them how to grow their own vegetables and crops to sell at farmers’ markets in Kathmandu.
Taking a piv Tiger Con Tala, Bhand 2016, Moh contacts to the tools the park manag empowering find alternativ of income. S on the socia impact of t worked a local s bette
FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ Peru
PAU T
With a passion for gender equality and protection of vulnerable groups including women, LGBT and native communities, Fernando was one of the driving forces for educating trip leaders in gender equality. Doubling the number of female trip leaders during his time as operations manager, Fernando also extended educational training in sexual misconduct. Currently launching a recycling partnership with Cusco City Hall, Fernando and his team are actively looking for ways to reduce plastic waste.
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DESTINATION COMMU N IT Y CO U N CIL
MOH
Paulo, Land Safari Trails, recruiting fem to empower transition fr on Kiliman Kilimanjar predomina so Paulo is w his team a break down He is also p recycling p Trace, where th
HAN TICKOO India
votal role in the Exodus nservation Project in davgarh, from 2005 to han collaborated with o provide locals with ey needed for effective gement and spent time g local communities to ve, sustainable sources Showing a keen interest al and environmental tourism, Mohan also with us to provide school in Tala with er infrastructure.
ULO LAIZER Tanzania
d Operator for African , is actively involved in male crew and helping r and encourage their rom porters to guides njaro. Guide roles on ro are still seen as a antly male profession, working together with and female porters to n these social stigmas. passionate about their programme, Leave no e porters collect litter on he mountain.
FOUNDING COUNCIL MEMBERS:
RUTH FRANKLIN Maldives
MIKE STEWART Thailand
JOHNNY VILLALOBOS Costa Rica
Co-Founder of the communitybased tour company, Secret Paradise, Ruth’s passion lies in supporting the local Maldives community through employment and training opportunities. Coordinating with NGOs, she educates her guides on sustainable practices so they can provide guest presentations on topics like coral reef preservation and waste management. The company also regularly supports clean up events, tree planting and educational events within the community.
Operator and partner, Mike has collaborated on a number of social and environmental initiatives over the years including working with networks on the ground to develop community-based tourism in Myanmar, improving elephant welfare with World Animal Protection in Northern Thailand and Laos, and helping to train locals on midwifery in remote villages in Indonesia. He is particularly passionate about animal welfare and social welfare for marginalised groups.
Renowned naturalist and Exodus tour leader, Johnny Villalobos, has been guiding travellers since 1995. Taking a keen interest in educating younger generations about the importance of conservation, he’s played a pivotal role in the Exodus Travels Inspiration Project. Teaching conservation and nature activity workshops to primary school children, he leads groups to places in the rainforests that they wouldn’t have access to, so they can get a deeper understanding of the country’s unique biodiversity.
THIERRY JOUBERT Balkans
PEDRO PEDROSA Portugal
ANDY MCKEE
Managing partner of responsible tourism company, Green Visions, Thierry, has been at the forefront of sustainable tourism development throughout the Via Dinarica. He has also been involved with the creation of Eko Akcija, a citizens mobilisation organisation for the protection of the environment, and establishing Balkan Green, a regional sustainable tourism organisation that coaches and audits businesses to ensure they comply with the GSTC’s global standards for sustainability in travel and tourism.
Pedro, Operator Partner for Portugal, has been actively involved in building reforestation partnerships with local companies and government authorities since Portugal’s devastating forest fires in 2017. Introducing company staff volunteering days, Pedro and his team have participated in volunteer reforestation work on a regular basis and aim to invite like-minded travellers to help in the effort of reforesting the former Atlantic pine forests in the centre of Portugal.
UK, Morocco, Zambia & Laos
Andy is Exodus tour leader and founder of Baraka, an NGO that provides essential emergency relief to rural and suburban communities in Zambia. Working for over a decade on social and environmental initiatives across Morocco, Laos and Zambia, Andy has been involved in building classrooms, sanitation facilities and developing water provision projects. His most recent initiative was collaborating with Exodus Travels on organising an education and food distribution programme in Zambia.
S L UG T IT LE HERE
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EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation
IMPACT & Governance To improve life through travel in hard-to-reach places.
Community empowerment: Particularly the increase of employment and income generation opportunities through tourism for disadvantaged, underrepresented and hard-to-reach communities. Conservation: Particularly the engagement of destination communities in protection and recovery of wildlife and ecosystems, and the reduction of human/wildlife conflict. Disaster relief, across our destinations.
Follow the Foundation icon through this report for goals and stories which incorporate Foundation activity.
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PROJECTS SUPPORTED IN 2021:
Himalayan Community Project India & Nepal
Freedom Kit Bags Project Nepal
Support for number of small, community-based initiatives across several villages in the Nepalese and Indian Himalaya, including 700 trees planted in remote Ladakh region and 27 disadvantaged children given educational opportunities.
Delivery of 1,125 Freedom Kit Bags (hygienic, re-usable sanitary wear) by Exodus Tour Leaders, to women across rural Nepalese villages, along with stigma-reducing community training on reproductive health.
Sal & Mahua Schools Project
Kilimanjaro Porter Project
India
Tanzania
Delivery of second phase of project to renovate 2 schools in Bandhavgarh, India, which is significantly improving education and facilities for the 1,000 children who attend, including clean water, kitchen, toilet blocks, playground and library.
Delivery of mountain guide training to 8 women through our ‘Mountain Lioness Scholarship’, alternative income generation training for 1,122 mountain crew, and Village Savings and Loans Association training for 72 mountain crew.
Community Kickstart Project
Covid Emergency Relief Appeal
Global
India & Nepal
Disbursement of 4 Community Kickstart grants for implementation of community initiatives by our local supplier network, including empowerment training for 22 Masai women, education catch-up classes for 102 young students in Zambia, 3,000 hot meals for disadvantaged children in Namibia and emergency food aid for 21 trek staff and families in India.
Provision of over 1,000 emergency food packages, benefitting 1,755 people in need, including 200 tribal families in India, 6 elderly people at the Kyanjin Gompa Old People’s Home in Nepal, 124 families in Nepal following the floods and 108 trek staff across India and Nepal.
Covid Emergency Relief Appeal Zambia Provision of 648 food parcels for families of 12 Zambian guides and other support staff, and families of 150 disadvantaged children who attend Learning Centre established by long-standing partner, Baraka Community Partnerships.
Read more about all of these projects, and find our Impact Report 2020: WWW.EXODUS.CO.UK/FOUNDATION
I M PAC T & G OV ERN AN CE
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Our Trustees
PETER BURRELL
RICHARD ISAACS
CRISTA CULLEN
CHAIR OF TRUSTEES
TREASURER
TRUSTEE
Until retiring from the role of Managing Director at Exodus Travels in early 2018, Peter spent decades being actively involved in adventure travel all over the world. His passion for the places he worked in led him to get involved in numerous projects aimed at improving the lives of people living in the areas tourists visit. Not least in Nepal where a local school has been named in his honour in recognition of all the work he has done there, particularly following the catastrophic 2015 earthquake.
An experienced Finance Director and travel industry professional, having worked with such notable brands as Kuoni and TUI Travel before joining Exodus, Richard has a passion for travel, development and sustainability. He is an active member in his local community (including auditing the accounts for the local primary school) and a keen cyclist.
Olympic Gold Medallist Hockey player, adventurer and conservationist, Crista is determined to change the world for the better. She already sits on the board of a number of organisations and has set up her own charity, Tofauti Foundation, empowering communities and supporting conservation in Africa. Crista brings to the board of Trustees her breadth of experience and her passion for conservation and development.
HILARY THOMAS
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GILES TOTTERDELL
TRUSTEE
TRUSTEE
An experienced fundraiser with nearly 20 years’ experience in the not-for-profit sector, Hilary is a corporate partnerships specialist who is passionate about harnessing the power of the private sector to drive positive change in the world. Her career and passion for travel has taken her around the world and she looks forward to sparking the same spirit of adventure in her two young children as they grow up.
Currently finance director of an INGO working in Africa and South Asia, Giles has extensive experience of financial management and governance across a number of charities both large and small. He is particularly passionate about helping rural communities to thrive and prosper through economic development. Giles is also a regular Exodus customer, combining his love of travelling with cycling and trekking.
Our Accounts
Unrestricted Funds 2021
Restricted Funds 2021
Total Funds 2021
Total Funds 2020
Total Funds 2019
£
£
£
£
£
Fundraising Activities and Donations
19,843
49,413
69,256
48,065
180,235
Charitable Activities Spend
34,098
58,403
92,500
65,800
61,98
-
-
-
172
-
792
-
792
492
335
34,889
58,403
93,292
66,464
62,318
(15,046)
(8,990)
(24,036)
(18,399)
17,918
Total Funds Brought Forward
64,519
34,999
99,519
117,918
n/a
Total Funds Carried Forward
49,473
26,009
75,482
99,519
117,918
Support Costs Governance Costs Total Resources Expended Net Movement in Funds Reconcilliation of Funds
For more detailed accounts, please refer to the Accounts and Annual Returns section of the Exodus Travels Foundation record on the Charity Commission’s register of charities (registered charity number 1182265).
I M PAC T & G OV ERN AN CE
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2025 Strategy We have a lot of work to do in the coming few years across a diversity of different areas, and we have identified a handful of headline goals to spearhead our three year sustainability strategy and focus our efforts on the biggest priorities.
IMPROVE LIFE THROUGH TRAVEL, IN THE PLACES WE VISIT, FOR THE PEOPLE WE MEET, ON THE PLANE T WE EXPLORE PEOPLE
PLACES + PLANET
Start producing an integrated annual sustainability report (including Foundation activity)
OUR OFFICES
Collaborate cross sector to improve tourism impact, and lead change within parent group
Develop and implement a proactive ED&I policy
Establish a Destination Community Council
OUR TRIPS
BECOME NATURE NET POSITIVE BY 2024 Including our biodiversity regeneration, carbon reduction and waste reduction goals FIND OUT MORE:
Measurably increase employment and income generation opportunities through tourism for disadvantaged, underrepresented and hard-to-reach communities OUR GIVING
SEE OUR NATURE NET POSITIVE PLAN
Triple donor income to the Foundation
Late last year, we became the first Tour Operator to make a Nature Net Positive commitment, the lead goal in our Sustainability Strategy 2025. In 2020, we were one of the first travel companies to declare a climate emergency, and at the beginning of 2021, we published our first climate action plan – spearheaded by our commitment to halve our carbon footprint by 2030, to compensate for all trip and flight emissions, and to rewild 100 square metres per passenger (through our partnership with Rewilding Europe – see page 19). However, our 44
2025 STRATEG Y
increasing awareness of the biodiversity crisis we face – inextricably linked to the climate emergency – fuelled a desire to go further in our efforts to support the regeneration of nature. Our customers agree, identifying the protection of biodiversity and wildlife as the number one sustainable travel issue they feel we should address, in both our 2019 and 2021 customer surveys. On the right hand page, are the targets we have set ourselves in order to further reduce our negative impact on nature and – importantly – support the regeneration of biodiversity, through our adventures and our Foundation.
OUR NATURE NET POSITIVE PLAN
2022
2023
Identify nature impacts and define targets and KPIs.
Collaborate across the sector to advance industry’s nature regeneration strategy and activity.
Alignment of our targets with global, cross-sector benchmarks, e.g. Science Based Targets for Nature.
Verification of carbon reduction targets by SBTi.
Rewild 100 square metres per passenger and expand support for rewilding.
Make the Council for Sustainable Business Nature Positive Pledge. Continue to collaborate across the sector to advance and advocate for climate solutions. Sign up to Global Tourism Plastics Initiative to engage in cross-sector change. Rewild 400 hectares through rewilding partnership. Support the restoration of endangered species and engage communities on more restorative land use (through Exodus Travels Foundation). Start engaging customers re. importance of nature regeneration with our rewilding documentary.
Compensate for all trip and flight carbon emissions. TOURISM’S NEGATIVE IMPACT ON NATURE: Carbon emissions (IPBES driver: Climate change) Pollution and waste (IPBES driver: Pollution) Ecosystem exploitation (IPBES drivers: Over-exploitation of natural resources, change in land use, invasive and non-native species and disease)
Engage destination communities in waste reduction (through Exodus Travels Foundation). Support reduction of human/ wildlife conflict in destinations (through Exodus Travels Foundation).
Continue avoiding:
Activate customers in contributing towards conservation and regeneration through Nature Metrics partnership. Increase equity of benefit that comes from nature in destinations (through Exodus Travels Foundation).
Engage with accommodation suppliers re. how they can support nature regeneration. Continue to increase support of nature conservation and restoration activity through destination community engagement (through Exodus Travels Foundation).
Implement carbon reduction plan (halve footprint by 2030).
Continue carbon reduction plan (halve footprint by 2030).
Compensate for all trip and flight carbon emissions.
Compensate for all trip and flight carbon emissions.
Engage with customers on reducing waste on trips.
Increase plant-based meals and engage with local suppliers to do the same.
Engage with customers on minimising nature damaging practices on trips.
Reduce food waste in directly provided meals.
Engage with suppliers on how they protect against over-exploitation of natural environments.
Engage with accommodation suppliers re. pollution and waste reduction.
Eliminate distribution of any single-use plastics to customers on trips (direct operations).
Engage with accommodation and other suppliers on how to avoid ecosystem exploitation.
Reduce nights in over-exploited destinations.
Achieve zero waste to landfill across offices.
AVOID
• Highly emitting trip types, e.g. big cruise, big tour groups. • Accommodation with big environmental footprint. • Damaging wildlife interactions or animal practices.
Engage with suppliers and tour leaders re. importance of nature conservation and regeneration.
Increase and diversify the way in which our itineraries support local conservation efforts.
REDUCE & MITIGATE
Measure carbon footprint and establish carbon reduction roadmap (for goal to halve footprint by 2030).
Rewild 100 square metres per passenger and expand support for rewilding.
RESTORE, REGENERATE, TRANSFORM
2021
Animal welfare audit undertaken across all trips.
REFERENCES: IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services): Drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem change UN Convention on Biological Diversity: Proposed headline indicators global biodiversity framework Council for Sustainable Business’s Nature Handbook Science Based Targets for Nature: Initial Guidance for Business Responsible Travel: 10 year plan for just, nature positive and lower carbon holidays
KEY: General/ strategic target | Target addressing impact of carbon emissions | Target addressing impact of pollution and waste | Taget addressing impact of ecosystem exploitation
You can read more about why and how we developed this plan, as well as the different activities within it, at: EXODUS.CO.UK/SUSTAINABLE-TRAVEL/PLACES-AND-PLANET
2025 ST RAT EGY
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HIGHLIGHT
Looking to the future CHART As we look ahead to the context for our business in the coming decade and beyond, we have to acknowledge the increasing uncertainty, shifting societal inequalities, and the impacts of climate crisis and biodiversity collapse that face us. At Exodus and Headwater, we remain committed to the belief that – when well delivered - travel enriches, educates, uplifts and restores, and we have tried to set goals accordingly. We know that pursuing these goals will take a lot of hard work to reduce the aspects of travel which diminish and degrade our world, and determination to find ways our adventures can measurably build and regenerate. Also essential will be a continued, proactive openness to collaborate, learn and be challenged. So we’re truly thankful that we’re walking alongside such an inspiring and committed community of staff, partners, customers and supporters, as well as many peers across our industry who are leading by example STATISTIC COPY and advocating for the systemic changes required. Here’s to a near future in which our sector can be seen as meaningfully and comprehensively contributing to the solutions our global society and natural world so need.
KASIA MORGAN HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY AND COMMUNITY
QUOTE
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LOOKING TO THE F UT U R E
BLOCK
LO O K I NG TO T H E FU T U RE
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FIND OUT MORE:
EXODUS.CO.UK/SUSTAINABLE-TRAVEL
EXODUS TRAVELS
Foundation FIND OUT MORE:
EXODUS.CO.UK/FOUNDATION REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER
1182265
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