At COP26, the world\u2019s largest climate change conference, our co-founder and chairman Darrell Wade has been rallying and leading the tourism industry to take real action<\/strong> on climate change. Here\u2019s what that means for us. <\/strong><\/p>\n The world we love is threatened, and if we want to continue to explore it, we must first protect it. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve joined other leading travel organisations at COP26 in Glasgow to commit to ambitious industry-wide decarbonisation, which will see us halve our\u00a0carbon emissions by 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cClimate change is a huge, existential crisis for our industry,\u201d said Darrell Wade at the launch of the Glasgow Declaration for Climate Action in Tourism<\/a> at COP26. <\/p>\n In fact, climate change threatens the very destinations, people and wildlife that tourists travel to visit \u2013 but pre-pandemic, travel and tourism contributed about 8 per cent of the world\u2019s total greenhouse gas emissions. We can\u2019t ignore that and we must start to take urgent action to radically reduce emissions across the board. <\/p>\n There\u2019s been a lot of talking at Glasgow. And that\u2019s important. But now is the time to really do the work\u2026<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get\u00a0into\u00a0the nitty-gritty \u2013 why are we doing this?\u00a0To put it simply, a future where we ignore climate change isn\u2019t pretty.\u00a0The\u00a02015 Paris Agreement\u00a0saw the governments of\u00a0nearly every country\u00a0in the world commit to limiting global temperature\u00a0rise to below\u00a02\u00b0C\u00a0above pre-industrial levels (the temperature before the industrial revolution\u00a0of\u00a01760 \u2013 1840), aiming to limit global warming to 1.5\u00b0C.\u00a0In 2018, the UN\u2019s\u00a0Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)\u00a0warned that we must stick to the lower end of the goal,\u00a0with\u00a0an increase of no more than 1.5\u00b0C.\u00a0<\/p>\n A difference of half a degree may not sound like a lot, but if the warning is ignored, the results could be catastrophic, with threats of droughts, floods, decimation of coral reefs, extreme heat, loss of biodiversity and ecosystems and widespread poverty significantly ramping up. To limit global warming to 1.5\u00b0C, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions need to be cut in half by 2030, and drop to net zero by 2050.<\/p>\n Intrepid has\u00a0been carbon neutral since 2010,\u00a0but it\u2019s\u00a0clear\u00a0that being carbon neutral is no longer enough for the travel industry.\u00a0The effects of climate change are already apparent,\u00a0with\u00a0severe\u00a0weather events threatening people and wildlife worldwide.\u00a0In 2020,\u00a0Intrepid\u00a0published its seven-step Climate Commitment Plan<\/a>, which clearly outlines the actions we will take to reduce our emissions. That same year, we became the\u00a0first global tour operator\u00a0with verified\u00a0science-based targets<\/a>, as\u00a0approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Under our science-based target, we have committed to reducing\u00a0absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 71%\u00a0by\u00a02035, and\u00a0reducing\u00a0scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from\u00a0our\u00a0offices by 34% per full-time employee,\u00a0and from\u00a0our\u00a0trips by 56% per customer per day over the same period.\u00a0That all may sound a little confusing, but with clear\u00a0science-based\u00a0targets\u00a0to hold us accountable \u2013 we will report on our progress each and every year in our integrated annual report \u2013\u00a0we\u2019ll reduce emissions across our operations and supply chains, marking the next phase of our ongoing carbon journey.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n So\u00a0how are we\u00a0going to make this\u00a0happen?\u00a0The\u00a0goal of a\u00a01.5\u00b0C\u00a0future\u00a0stays\u00a0front of mind in everything we do, from the\u00a0day-to-day\u00a0operation of our offices to the development of new adventure\u00a0tours.\u00a0Currently four of our global offices use 100% renewable\u00a0energy, and we aim for this to be standard across all our offices by 2025.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019re reviewing our 50 most popular trips, and by 2022 we aim to have all flights under 90 minutes swapped out for low carbon (and often far more interesting) land, road or river alternatives, where viable. Take our Premium Cambodia<\/a> tour, for example \u2013 what was once a flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap is now a fascinating riverboat journey down the Tonle Sap River. This means fewer emissions while travellers are exposed to a side of local life few tourists get to see \u2013 we think that\u2019s a win-win. Accommodation for the new range of Premium<\/a> tours was often selected for its eco-credentials (think renewable energy sources and produce grown on-site) and many local experiences centre around environmental or wildlife conservation projects.<\/p>\n New\u00a0walking<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0cycling<\/a>\u00a0tours\u00a0are in constant development, providing not only a\u00a0wonderful\u00a0way to see a part of the world, but also significantly lower carbon emissions. New domestic tours in\u00a0Australia<\/a>,\u00a0New Zealand<\/a>,\u00a0USA<\/a>,\u00a0Canada<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0United Kingdom<\/a>\u00a0mean travellers from these regions\u00a0don\u2019t need to catch a\u00a0long-haul\u00a0flight\u00a0to experience a proper Intrepid group tour (local leaders, authentic experiences, expert knowledge \u2013 all that good stuff), and public transport is\u00a0widely\u00a0used on tours.\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019re also trying to do our bit to draw down carbon from the atmosphere. While reducing the amount of carbon we all produce is vital, these types of\u00a0projects also help to support climate action.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Intrepid Foundation<\/a>\u00a0has partnered with some\u00a0fantastic projects dedicated\u00a0to removing carbon from the atmosphere.\u00a0Blue carbon ecosystems are natural coastal wetlands of\u00a0seagrasses, mangroves\u00a0and\u00a0tidal marshes,\u00a0and they\u00a0absorb and store\u00a0carbon\u00a030-50 times faster\u00a0than trees.\u00a0Under the threat of\u00a0urban development, industry and agriculture, 65% of these ecosystems have been lost worldwide\u00a0\u2013 but that\u2019s\u00a0where\u00a0the\u00a0Blue Carbon Lab<\/a>\u00a0comes in.\u00a0Dedicated\u00a0to the restoration of these ecosystems, the\u00a0Blue Carbon Lab\u00a0uses innovative blue carbon research\u00a0to mitigate the effects of climate change.\u00a0We\u2019re donating\u00a0more than A$80,000 to support the Blue Carbon Lab\u2019s research into the restoration of coastal wetlands in Victoria, Australia, and you\u2019ll also have the chance to\u00a0get behind the cause.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Intrepid has teamed up with Ecologi<\/a> to create the world\u2019s first travel-powered forest (it\u2019s as cool as it sounds). Ecologi partners with various projects across the world to offset carbon emissions, and they plant trees while they\u2019re at it. Any adventures you take with Intrepid are already totally carbon offset<\/a>, but you now have the option to sign up to a monthly subscription<\/a> plan to offset your daily carbon footprint through these projects and plant real-life trees. For every tree Ecologi plant for you, Intrepid will plant one too \u2013 we\u2019re talking entire forests powered by Intrepid travellers.<\/p>\n While carbon offsetting our unavoidable emissions is an important step towards tackling climate change,\u00a0the\u00a0need\u00a0to reduce\u00a0emissions\u00a0is more urgent than ever. <\/p>\n Urgent industry-wide decarbonisation must be the priority for everyone in tourism.<\/p>\n So, as the COP26 delegates pack up and head back to their respective countries, we will continue to accelerate our commitments towards halving emissions by 2030. <\/p>\n We\u2019re not going to stop talking about\u00a0\u2013 or taking action on \u2013\u00a0climate change, and you shouldn\u2019t either.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At COP26, the world\u2019s largest climate change conference, our co-founder and chairman Darrell Wade has been rallying and leading the tourism industry to take real action on climate change. Here\u2019s what that means for us. The world we love is threatened, and if we want to continue to explore it, we must first protect it. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11760],"tags":[3474,28253,89135],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-242609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","tag-carbon","tag-emissions","tag-halving"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy we are halving our carbon emissions<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Group](\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Arctic-Justin-Meneguzzi.jpg\")
How we\u2019re reducing our carbon emissions\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Cycling](\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Cycling-Liam-Neal.jpg\")
Our carbon emission reduction projects<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Forest](\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Canada-Liam-Neal.jpg\")