CONSERVATION & ENVIRONMENT NEWS The Travel Corporation announces New Climate Action Plan to achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2030 As members of the global travel industry, The Travel Corporation (TTC) recognises its role and responsibility in creating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through its trips and operations. The need for both travellers and businesses to take action to address GHG emissions and climate change becomes clearer and more urgent every day. And so, in celebration of Earth Day 2021, TTC and its family of brands announced a five-step Climate Action Plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, and support their continued efforts to achieve the organisation’s sustainability goals. To further support the transition to a lowcarbon future, TTC and its TreadRight Foundation are investing in two naturebased carbon removal solutions, Project Vesta and GreenWave. TreadRight has also launched a new Impact Hub in an effort to be transparent as to progress made at TTC and its family of brands against the groups’ 11 sustainability goals, while also providing tips to travellers on how they can help.
Respectively, the goals commit to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and to sourcing 50% of electricity from renewable sources across the organisation by 2025. This includes TTC’s 20+ offices, 18 Red Carnation Hotels, 13 Uniworld ships, six accommodations/ facilities, 500+ vehicles and more than 1,500 itineraries operated worldwide by its 40 award-winning brands including Contiki, Trafalgar, Insight Vacations and Uniworld. Since the launch of its first sustainability strategy in 2015, TTC has invested in energy conservation and reducing its environmental impact across its portfolio of brands. This new Climate Action Plan builds on TTC’s progress made to-date and its commitment to continual improvement.
Advancements to date include the installation of solar panels in 2020 at the Uniworld head office in Encino, California, the implementation of a 400kW Tesla plant supplying over 95% of Xigera Safari Lodge’s energy, which opened December 2020 as part of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection and the recent shift to 100% renewable Climate change is directly linked to an electricity by Contiki’s Chateau De Cruix and increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Haus Schöneck as well as Red Carnation in the atmosphere, of which globally, a Hotel’s Ashford Castle, which sits on a 350reported 51 billion tons of GHG emissions acre property. are emitted annually. TTC’s Climate Action Plan addresses Goals #1 and #2 of its fiveLooking forward, TTC has committed to year sustainability strategy, How We Tread carbon neutral offices and business travel Right, which target the carbon footprint of beginning January 1, 2022, through its its business. partnership with offset provider South Pole. Project Vesta
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