Intrepid Travel introduces carbon label for trips

Intrepid Travel has launched an initiative which sees the escorted tour operator adding carbon labels to more than 500 itineraries, including its top 100 trips.

It plans to continue measuring and disclosing the emissions of every trip with these labels, which appear on the individual tour pages on the company’s website.

The labels tell travellers the carbon footprint of each Intrepid tour, “providing greater transparency” as Intrepid “deepens its commitment to climate-conscious travel”.

Now displayed on more than half of Intrepid’s trip pages, the carbon labels show the total CO2-e of the trip per traveller, per day.

The CO2-e kg number is described as “like a nutrition label”, allowing customers to make better-informed decisions.

The total emissions are calculated by identifying the different components contributing to the overall carbon footprint, including accommodation, transportation, food provided during the trip, activities, the local operations’ office emissions and waste.

A 15% contingency is then added to each trip’s total emissions, to account for anything unintentionally missing.

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The new scheme comes as Intrepid revealed new research findings showing that 66% of Brits have no idea what their carbon footprint is, and 63% of Brits “don’t really think about the carbon footprint on a regular basis”.

However, 70% of respondents said they were willing to change their everyday behaviour and buying decisions to minimise their carbon footprint.

Intrepid’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory calculation process was developed in line with the best-practice requirements set by Climate Active, a partnership between the Australian government and corporations to drive voluntary climate action in the private sector.

The operator’s clients will also be able to access information on how Intrepid is offsetting these emissions and compare the data with everyday activities.

For example, 100kg CO2-e is about the same as charging a smartphone 12,164 times or driving a gas-powered car about 399 kilometres.

Sara King, general manager of purpose for Intrepid Travel, said: “Without higher government regulations or the need for ESG [environmental, social and corporate governance] disclosure, it is nearly impossible to hold businesses accountable for reducing their emissions.

“We cannot shy away from our impact, and we cannot effectively reduce what we do not measure.

“With carbon labelling, we can increase customers’ understanding of their footprint while advocating for this level of measurement and transparency to become an industry standard.”

Intrepid is continuing its programme of developing lower carbon itineraries. In 2024, it will have approximately 4,000 fewer flights on trips, compared to 2023, and will be discontinuing all scenic flights.

Picture of travellers in Ghorepani, Nepal, by Intrepid Travel.