GLOBAL context

Global Trends And Challenges

Our People, Places and Planet plan is regularly reviewed to ensure it continues to align with the key challenges we have identified for our business: nature and biodiversity loss, climate change and increased inequality and vulnerability. Across the year, we seek and receive input from stakeholders, key scientific reports, Foundation trustees, industry sustainability meetings, partnerships, and our staff teams. These contributions help our teams identify and address emerging trends or key challenges that allow us to revise our plans and budgeting allocations so that resources are being channeled into areas that need it the most.

Urgent action to limit global warming to 1.5°C

Our planet faces unprecedented challenges – not only the climate crisis but biodiversity collapse. The nature and unique ecosystems that we continue to explore on our adventures are vital for the survival of our global society but are left increasingly under threat. This is why were one of the first travel companies to declare a climate emergency, by agreeing to join the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism and acclerate our own emission reductions in line with the IPPC advice. And at the beginning of 2021, we made a promise to our planet - to halve our per passenger carbon footprint by 2030, to rewild 100 square metres per passenger and to invest in nature-based carbon sinks.

We use our People, Places & Planet framework to set annual goals and KPIs. To accurately assess the progress made against these goals, we use a combination of data sources, including our annual supplier sustainability survey, carbon reporting process, client surveys and holiday evaluation forms, and our Exodus Travels Foundation impact measurement process. In the pages to follow, we report back on the progress we have made in the past year.r progress against the goals we have set.

Urgent action to stop biodiversity loss

Global biodiversity is declining faster than at any other time in human history1, and this is caused by human activity, including land use, pollution, and climate change. We welcome the global agreement for biodiversity that was decided in December 2022 at COP15 in Montréal, Canada. It is a critical component of driving more action to reverse biodiversity loss in this decade. Through our nature positive goals, we want to ensure that everything we do to create and run our trips not only reduces any negative impacts on natural ecosystems, but proactively seeks to support nature’s restoration and regeneration. Our clients have also identified that the protection of biodiversity and wildlife is the number one issue they feel we should address.

1 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), “Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services“, 2019

Around the world, inequality is rising and vulnerable groups are increasingly impacted

The continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, conflicts in many parts of the world, and the accelerating effects of climate change are all adding to global instability, insecurity and economic inflation. These effects impact people from vulnerable groups the hardest and lead to increasing levels of inequality. Our trips seek to protect the people we visit and drive economic empowerment in their communities. This means supporting local businesses, boosting employment opportunities, and ensuring that our clients’ money has a positive impact on all the communities we visit.