Purpose paper EXPLORE’S
JANUARY 2024
Introduction We’re delighted to publish our first stand-alone
But we still have a long way to go. As we look ahead
Purpose Paper. Sustainability has never been so
we have even bolder goals for the reduction of our
vitally important, and we think it’s crucial that we’re
carbon emissions in 2024 and beyond, we plan to fund
open and transparent about our ambitious People,
new initiatives via the Explore Foundation and will be
Planet and Places goals.
looking to gain further validation of our efforts from an
While we’ve always had responsible travel at the
external accreditation partner.
heart of what we do, we’ve done a lot this year that we’re really proud of. 18 months ago we unveiled the results of the largest carbon measurement project in the industry at the time. Since then we’ve been working extremely hard right across the business to drive down our carbon footprints (you’ll see the
This document sets out to clarify our key achievements and our
results of that on pages 6-8).
biggest goals - both for the
We’ve moved away from avoidance-based carbon
year ahead, and for 2030
offsetting and invested in carbon removal technologies with the help of Klimate, we were a launch partner of ethy x Feefo - the sustainability accreditation specialists, we launched the Explore Foundation and were named Sustainable Travel Company of the Year in the prestigious Travel Industry Awards from TTG.
when our commitment to the Glasgow Declaration requires a reduction of 50% in our carbon footprint. We look forward to taking you on the journey with us, as we learn from our successes and failures, and always strive to Be a Better Business Than Yesterday.
Michael Edwards, Managing Director
02.
Explore’s Purpose Paper | Introduction
Contents 04
Our achievements and aspirations
06
Planet: Decarbonisation
10
Planet: Our Climate partners
12
Places: Protecting our places and their people
14
Places: The Explore Foundation
16
People: What it’s like to work at Explore
18
People: Low-carbon travel policy
19
People: Our People focuses
21
Our Values: Being Better Than Yesterday
Our achievements and aspirations Sustainable Travel Company of the Year To be named Sustainable Travel Company of the Year at the prestigious Travel Industry Awards 2023 was a huge highlight this year, and great recognition of the progress made in the last year. 04. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Achievements and aspirations
Travel Bulletin Star Sustainability Initiative Explore was named winner of the first ever Star Sustainability Initiative award in the Travel Bulletin 2023 industry awards for its Clear on Carbon campaign.
Senior Leaders’ planet-linked bonus scheme Last year our Board and General Management Team signed up to a bonus scheme linked to our climaterelated targets - including carbon reduction - as well as People and Profit targets.
The Explore Foundation In July 2023 we achieved our long-time aspiration of establishing the Explore Foundation - a registered charity that identifies and supports projects that target poverty, increase access to education and promote conservation.
Clear on carbon A year after measuring the carbon emissions of every single one of our trips and all business operations, we’ve been driving down our footprint - on our trips, and at HQ - with a target of 7% reduction for the year (see p7).
Klimate 2023 saw us team up with Klimate to support effective and ethical carbon removal technologies.
ethy We were delighted to be a launch partner of ethy, sustainability accreditation specialist and partner of Feefo, which has verified our sustainability claims.
Rewilding Britain Another successful year partnering with Rewilding Britain saw us donate £63,900 to this independent charity committed to championing rewilding in the fight against the climate emergency.
What’s next? A purpose-led focus in all we do. External validation from an independent accreditor such as BCorp. Product development with low-carbon accommodation and flight-free alternatives. Additional awards in the sustainability space.
05. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Achievements and aspirations
PLANET:
Decarbonisation Having measured the carbon footprint of every one of our tours in 2022, in the largest-scale carbon measurement project in the travel industry at the time, we’re now working hard to reduce our emissions. We’re committed to reducing our emissions by 50% by 2030, and for 2023 we set ourselves the target of reducing the carbon intensity of our holidays by 7%.
How we measure Measuring carbon isn’t perfect, and there isn’t a singular methodology in our industry to follow. But in working with experts at eCollective, we know we’re using the best method available, and measuring everything that we can, to give us the most accurate figures. We can’t do this alone. We’re collaborating with our suppliers and agents globally, working with them to reduce their footprints and make informed choices about their own suppliers.
06. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Planet
How we report We use two metrics to track our progress. Absolute emissions - total emissions in tCO2e (tonnes of Carbon dioxide equivalent) Intensity - emissions set against another output, for example customers travelled, or business revenue. Our chosen intensity measure is CO2e per passenger per night, measured in kilograms. Intensity targets don’t account for the growth of a company and, due to an increase in passengers travelling this year, we’ve seen an increase in the absolute total of our carbon emissions. For transparency, we’ll report annually on both intensity and absolute metrics.
What we include We measure everything that Explore books for our customers’ trips and everything involved in running our business. We don’t include flights that our Land Only customers book themselves in our intensity results, in line with GHG Protocol Standards. We do, however, calculate this to the best of our ability and include it in our absolute total. We consider flights booked by customers to be part of our business that we need to measure, monitor and reduce. While not necessarily something we can control, these emissions are still something we must take responsibility for.
Our goal isn’t to stop travel, it’s to ensure that the footprint of every customer that travels with us is reduced, year on year.
So, how are we doing? NEW. Our new-for-2024 A Taste of Southern France tour is easily accessible by train from the UK. On the trip itself, we’ve included boat and train journeys as well as a vineyard tour by electric buggies - all of which improve the trip’s carbon footprint and also the enjoyment of the tour.
-7% Since last year we’ve reduced the intensity footprint of our holidays by 7%
IMPROVED. We’ve removed two domestic flights on our two-week Walking in the Azores tour for 2024. Instead, it’s a slower-paced tour taking in four islands rather than five, travelling by boat and really getting under the skin of this stunning destination. And carbon emissions reduced from 410kg to 278kg - win, win. CANCELLED. Sometimes we have to make the tough call to cancel a trip. Our Vietnam beach extension and Family Indian Discovery tour had high carbon footprints that we could not reduce if we were to keep the same/similar itineraries, so we have removed both tours from our ’24 programme.
-33% Compared to our base year (2019) we’ve reduced the carbon intensity of our business by 33%
We use 2019 as our base year for comparison, a year unaffected by Covid travel restrictions and therefore a realistic comparison. Since then the carbon intensity of our business has decreased by 33%, moving us towards our goal of 50% reduction by 2030. We’ve made improvements such as moving to renewable energy, reducing internal flights on tour and improving the accuracy of our measurements. Due to increased passenger numbers, alongside increased business travel as our team get back out on the road, our absolute emissions have increased significantly year on year, yet remain 10% lower than our base year.
Explore’s carbon audit results
FY19 (base year)
FY22
FY23
% change
% change
(year on year)
(from base year)
SCOPE 1:
0
0
0
–
–
SCOPE 2:
0
29
13
–
–
SCOPE 3: Holidays
10,627
5,613
8,226
-46%
-23%
SCOPE 3: Business
347
313
476
+52%
+34%
Scope 3: Flights booked by Explore
26,728
10,066
18,973
-88%
-29%
Scope 3: Flights booked by customer
22,459
13,858
26,710
+92%
+19%
ABSOLUTE TOTAL:
60,159
29,878
54,398
+82%
-10%
Absolute Total excluding flights booked by customer
37,701
16,020
27,688
+72%
-26%
Intensity of our business, excluding flights booked by customer
189
172
126
-26%
-33 %
Intensity of our holidays, excluding all international travel
56
41
38
-7%
-32 %
All figures within the table are in total tonnes of CO2e, other than the final two Intensity rows, which are in KG. 07. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Planet
Decarbonisation: what’s next? We’re committed to being transparent about areas we need to improve and feel its essential to be honest and open about any increases. Our audit results highlight where we’re making progress, and where we still have a lot of work to do to reach the commitments we made when we signed the Glasgow Declaration.
Targets: 2024: reduce the carbon intensity of our business by a further 5.25% 2030: reduce the carbon intensity of our business by 50% (on 2019 figures) 2030: reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90%
How we’re tracking
2019 189kg
2022 172kg 9% reduction
2023 126kg 33% reduction
2030 94.5kg 50% reduction
In focus: some office changes Since 2021 we’ve shared an office space with our Hotelplan UK sister businesses, operating a hybrid working model so that we use less space each day. Our building is closed Friday - Sunday to save on commutes and energy use. The office uses completely renewable energy, has solar panels fitted, and is zero-waste-to-landfill. We’ve added five Electric Vehicle chargers at the office and offer support for staff purchasing EVs, offer a Cycle to Work scheme and contribute towards commuter rail fares. Our bike shed has a green roof that we’ve planted to support biodiversity. 08. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Planet
PLANET:
Biodiversity
Protect and regenerate Our natural world supports us all. The food we eat, the air we breathe, our mental wellbeing and happiness. Of course it also underpins our business we travel to experience new landscapes and cultures - and the health and vibrancy of our planet is absolutely critical. With carbon, every tonne that is emitted, whether in Malta or Mongolia, leads to the same result. But this isn't the case with biodiversity. Any impact on nature is entirely unique to that specific location, that habitat, that ecosystem. So our focus is on understanding our impacts globally, and developing a strategy to reduce the negatives while increasing the positives.
2024 target: Develop a comprehensive biodiversity roadmap through to 2030, akin to our carbon roadmap, to really understand our impacts and goals.
9. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Planet
PLANET:
Our Climate partners We work with some of the best in the business. Here are just a few of our excellent partners that really deserve a shout-out.
Klimate This year we’ve moved away from avoidance carbon offsets. They aren’t what’s needed when it comes to making an impact on carbon that’s already been emitted. We’ve partnered with Klimate to invest in carbon removal technologies that work to draw down carbon that already exists. While reducing our emissions remains our priority, in supporting Klimate to remove carbon from the atmosphere we’re lessening the residual carbon as well as the impact of previous emissions.
2024 targets: Support carbon-removal technologies in the destinations we travel to. This year we’ll be supporting a direct air capture facility in Kenya, which pulls CO2 directly out of the atmosphere.
Rewilding Britain Nature, landscapes, wildlife are all key elements of an Explore holiday, from safaris in Botswana to trekking in Patagonia. But climate change means that this is all under threat due to biodiversity loss as well as human changes to natural landscapes. Rewilding Britain specialises in supporting land owners who are looking to work with nature; they lobby decision makers to push for legislation and new practices that will protect our wildlife and landscapes; and work to educate and inspire people to embrace natural landscapes.
2024 target:
Introduce some rewilding experiences into our UK tours. We’re working on two at the moment - watch this space!
10. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Planet
ethy In 2023 we were proud to be a launch partner of Feefo x ethy, the sustainability accreditation specialist. ethy works with brands to verify their sustainability claims via a series of trust marks, each one a clear sign to consumers that the specified criteria have been met. We want to be honest and transparent about where we are on our sustainability journey, communicating what we do well and where we need to work harder something ethy is helping us to do. We’ve been awarded ten trust marks so far, with three more currently in the pipeline.
2024 target: Achieve our Fights Plastic Waste, Protects Biodiversity and Restores Biodiversity ethy trust marks.
Water-to-Go Our partners at Water-to-Go create drinking bottles with incredible filtration systems that eliminate over 99.9% of all microbiological contaminants (including viruses, bacteria, chemicals and heavy metals) from any non-salt water source. These mean you can drink water from any tap, stream or even stagnant water wherever you are in the world, with no need for single-use plastic bottles.
496
Explore customers purchased Explore-branded Water-to-Go bottles in 2023, with each filter replacing up to 400 single-use bottles.
Cool Earth We work with Cool Earth to support indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest in Peru through community engagement, education and empowerment. Protecting carbon-rich rainforest is key to averting climate breakdown. Last year we donated more than £40,000 to Cool Earth.
11. Paper | Planet 10. Explore’s Explore’sPurpose Ethical Marketing Guidelines | Selling holidays ethicaly
The cost of every Explore trip includes: £2.50 for the Explore Foundation £8 - £23 for Klimate
(depending on duration and location of trip)
£3 for Rewilding Britain £2 for Cool Earth
PLACES:
Protecting our places, and their people
Our holidays are nothing if we don’t protect the destinations we visit - it’s crucial that our travels don’t bring any negative impacts to the host community, the wildlife, the landscapes and the ecosystems we visit. We always aim to ensure we create a positive impact.
12. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Places
Our trips We strive to ensure that our trips maximise the positive impacts of tourism - environmental, social and economic. We'll always stay in locally-owned hotels and guesthouses, employing local people wherever we can. We encourage travellers to spend their tourist pound with locals, and to support community initiatives where possible.
In focus: our local Tour Leaders
One example is our visit to Cafe Kibale on our Uganda Gorilla and Chimp Safari. This community-led cafe trains young local people in the skills they need to work in the hospitality industry.
On our Toubkal Long Weekend climb, we pay a local team to pick litter along the route. We collect all of our groups’ own rubbish of course, but this team collects anything else spotted and takes it to be properly disposed of.
Ana Davila Avila, Mexico
“I absolutely love my job and feel very lucky to travel to so many places and share new experiences - and I get to call this work! I’ve taken Explore groups all over Mexico for 14 years now, and also into Guatemala and Belize. My absolute favourite thing to share with visitors is the amazing archaeology of this region - I have a masters degree in Mesoamerica Archaeology and I’m so passionate about Mexican history!” Tishalia (Tish) Tait, Jamaica
“I’m from the Garden Parish of St Ann in Jamaica and have been leading tours for Explore groups since 2015 - I’ve loved every minute of it! We have so many wonderful experiences in Jamaica, like the Blue Mountains coffee tour, the Bob Marley museum, Frenchman’s cove, dolphin spotting… but also our Jamaican culture, our food, our dancing and our language patios (patwah) - I’m so proud of it all!”
Our Places policies
We have a whole raft of policies behind the scenes that ensure we do business in a fair and ethical way and that we’re protecting the places we visit. These range from our Animal Protection Policy to new Modern Slavery and Indigenous People Policies as well as Ethical Purchasing and Ethical Marketing policies. Having these guidelines in place ensures we’re consistent, and that we’re doing the right thing by all our people and our places.
2024 targets: Publish and globally roll out our Modern Slavery and Indigenous People policies. Provide training for all Explore staff, agent partners and tour leaders on these policies. Review all on-tour animal experiences with an independent expert.
13. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Places
PLACES:
The Explore Foundation In July 2023 we launched the Explore Foundation
Explore is the main donor of the Foundation, but
with the aim of building upon community and
having a registered charity also enables us to
environmental initiatives that have been funded by
facilitate donations from our customers - many of
Explore Worldwide over the last few decades.
whom have asked for this capability in the past, whether to give back to a community they’ve
The mission of the Explore Foundation is to positively impact the lives of communities worldwide, by supporting projects that target poverty reduction, increase access to education and healthcare, and promote conservation. Explore makes a donation to the Explore Foundation on behalf of every travelling customer, allowing us to continue supporting projects that create a positive impact on people, places and the planet.
14. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Places
visited or to support disaster relief.
One Bike A social enterprise located at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro using bicycles to empower rural communities, improving access to education, healthcare and employment. So far, the Foundation has funded 61 bikes and we hope to reach 100 bikes this year.
Lone Buffalo Lone Buffalo works to build brighter futures for young people in Laos through education and youth development. The Foundation has so far donated £14,741, wholly funding Develop Together 4, a programme aimed at supporting 1718 year olds build confidence and access higher education, allowing them greater opportunities.
Lehara Lehara is developing a sports massage service along the Everest Base Camp trekking route, creating economic opportunities for communities that live here, and offering a valuable service to visiting trekkers. They plan to train and employ 10 full time therapists, of which three will be sponsored by the Foundation.
Explore Foundation trustees John Telfer has decades of experience in the adventure travel industry, having started out as a tour leader. Passionate about inspiring positive travel interactions for travellers and hosts, John brings a wealth of knowledge. Jo Hendrickx founded Travel Without Plastic in 2017, after experiencing what she calls a ‘styrofoam breakfast’, to help businesses reduce unnecessary singleuse waste. Jo is a big believer in collaborative working and finding ways to put money into local economies. Georgina Wilson-Powell is our media expert, having spent 10 years working in travel media. She’s passionate about making sustainable choices the norm, ensuring the sustainable habits we build at home aren’t forgotten when we travel.
15. Explore’s Purpose Paper | Places
In focus: the Morocco Earthquake Appeal On 8th September 2023 an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck Morocco’s High Atlas mountains, 70km from Marrakech. The disaster claimed more than 3,000 lives and left thousands more injured. Morocco is a hugely popular destination with Explore staff and customers alike, and with the Foundation we were able to raise more than £60,000 very quickly to help the Red Cross in the immediate aftermath. Find out more at theexplore.foundation
PEOPLE:
What it’s like to work at Explore
Our people are what drive us forward, and what make all of this progress possible. We’re committed to doing the right thing by our employees, and to building and developing a diverse, inclusive and engaged team of brilliant people that believe in Explore’s goals and are passionate about purpose.
16 Explore’s Purpose Paper | People
How engaged are we? We run an annual staff engagement survey, which goes out to all staff and gathers feedback about all areas of the business. In 2023 80% of all Explore staff completed the survey. Here are some of the key findings:
100%
of respondents say that they believe strongly in the goals and objectives of this organisation
97% 92% would recommend Explore as a good place to work
said that people at this company treat each other with dignity and respect regardless of their personal identities
95%
92%
said that their people manager encourages and appreciates different perspectives and ways of working regardless of personal identity (gender, race, age, background, religious affiliation, disabilities or sexual orientation)
said that the organisation’s commitment to the environment is apparent in actions as well as words
Staff wellbeing - mental, physical, financial We recognise the impact that working from home, and current pressures like the Cost of Living crisis will have on mental health. We have proactive mental health support in the business, as well as a Wellbeing Hub, with resources and 20 different events and seminars to watch and follow. We are working towards our Menopause Friendly Employer accreditation. Staff wellbeing is hugely important. We fund weekly yoga classes and Circuits sessions in our Farnborough office (and over Teams for homeworkers). We have annual all-staff challenges like Steps For Sanity, encouraging employees to team up and get active in a friendly competition, as well as (hugely popular) Bring Your Dog to Work days.
We’ve taken various steps to support colleagues through the cost of living crisis that has impacted everyone this year. In December 2023, all UK staff received a bonus of 10% of annual salary. From 1 January 2024, staff have given inflation-linked pay increases which were staggered up to 5.6%, giving lower earners the maximum increases. We became accredited as a National Living Wage employer and extended free financial coaching with Octopus as a staff benefit. Informational webinars were offered during National Pension Week with further resources and advice available on our intranet’s financial wellbeing hub. Finally, all members of staff are offered 50% off one holiday per year from any Hotelplan UK brand to rest and rejuvenate.
17. Explore’s Purpose Paper | People
Low-carbon travel policy Connecting our sustainability purpose to our people, we brought in a low-carbon travel incentive in 2022, whereby staff can claim additional holiday for trips they take using low-carbon transport.
In focus: Hannah’s overland trip to Morocco
“I’m a big fan of simple initiatives that encourage low-carbon travel. Our policy of offering staff paid time off if we choose to travel by train instead of flying got me thinking, how many flights could I switch for trains? How far could I get? So far my favourite has been travelling from London to Morocco. Rather than an early morning flight I opted for 9 trains, 4 metros, 1 ferry and 1 rail replacement bus! Along the way I got to drink delicious red wine in Bordeaux, eat way too many pinxos in San Sebastian, stroll around Madrid soaking up the architecture and wave goodbye to Europe on the short ferry from Spain to Morocco. It’s a fabulous way to travel, rather than arriving frazzled from airports and check-in queues, the journey itself is a mini-adventure, it’s like having two trips in one!”
Volunteering Every Explore employee has two annual volunteer days to use in their location community, and is strongly encouraged to use them. Using at least one volunteer day is included in our annual objectives. Here, some of the Explore marketing team are helping out at a horse sanctuary.
In focus: Becky’s workation Sales Director Becky Smith grabbed an interrail pass and spent a month exploring Europe this summer. Working from the hills of Provence and the shores of the Cinque Terre meant there was no need to cut the trip short and get back to the office.
18. Explore’s Purpose Paper | People
Workations A new policy for 2023 enables all staff members to work from anywhere in the world for up to 6 weeks (30 working days) over the year. Eight people have used workation since the policy was introduced.
ATTRACTING TOP TALENT:
Our People focus Diversity and inclusion We’ve appointed The Diversifying Group to work with us this year. We’ll first be working to better understand representation and inclusivity in our workforce to create a baseline for improvement. We’ll then be completing a diversity audit to look at our cultural practices, policies and marketing, and implementing a new framework to ensure that our recruitment, onboarding and development are as inclusive as possible.
2024 targets:
19. Explore’s Purpose Paper | People
Complete a staff diversity audit. Establish a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion working group, with representation from across the business. Implement and publish an inclusive hiring framework.
Learning & development We are very focused on leadership and management development, and have recently launched our new programme Leading and Managing with Purpose (LaMP). We want everyone to have lightbulb learning moments on a regular basis where they gain news skills during their time with Explore. Every Explore employee is entitled to a ‘BTY’ training trip every year or two (depending on their role), joining a small group of customers on one of our tours. As we return from our travels, we all give a presentation to the whole business, so we’re all continually learning about our trips.
In focus: Director’s trip
In October, Managing Director Michael Edwards led our first ever Director’s trip, taking seven Explore employees to Morocco. The lucky travellers had been nominated by their colleagues for excellent work over the year and came from all departments of the business. Spending four nights in Morocco, the group lived it up with surfing lessons, tagine tasting and rooftop cocktails, taking in Essaouira, Marrakesh and Agafay. This is set to become an annual incentive.
Coming together In a hybrid-working environment, we make the most of opportunities to come together as a team and a business, to share ideas and our successes, and to soak up the brilliant in-person energy. Our annual calendar is peppered with get-togethers, including 1 Explore Day. An day for all the business to reflect and plan ahead. 2 Annual socials, in the summer and at Christmas. A good chance to have a proper knees-up and a staff favourite. 12 MUMs. That’s Monthly Update Meetings. An update on how we’re doing, and an in-depth focus on a couple of projects from around the business. 26 BTY Trip presentations. Every other Thursday we gather to hear about a staff member’s recent training trip with Explore. From the Amalfi Coast to Argentina, the whole team is transported via stories, pics and video, while we enjoy a beer together.
20. Explore’s Purpose Paper | People