Are carbon labels the next big thing in sustainable travel?
Picture this: youre scrolling through holiday options, trying to decide where to book for your next big trip. But instead of comparing the facilities, the number of infinity pools or the size of the breakfast buffet, youre weighing up the carbon emissions of each possibility  because the numbers are right there, in black and white, for all to see. Carbon labels arent just a flight of fancy, nor a nice-to-have extra to be added on at some unspecified point in time: its a trend that has already taken off, and looks set to only get bigger. I do, Sam Bruce, co-founder of Much Better Adventures, says of carbon labelling. It was the first international travel company to introduce the concept at the beginning of 2021. It should go beyond travel and they should be on all products that we buy; carbon labels should be the new calorie.  And it seems travellers are all for making more eco and ethical choices. New research from Booking.coms 2021 Sustainable Travel Report found that 43 per cent of nearly 30,000 people surveyed said the pandemic had made them want to travel more sustainably in the future. Meanwhile, 64 per cent of travellers said they wanted to stay in sustainable accommodation in the year ahead. Recommended A green guide to going on holiday  Although the primary reason to include carbon labels is not, at this point, really to do with consumers at all, according to Sam. Its first and foremost about the companies themselves; about them knowing what their carbon footprint (and the footprint of their product) is, with a reassuring degree of accuracy, and taking the next steps to do something about it. You cant manage what you dont measure, he says. Thats the first tenet of any good carbon action plan: first you measure, then you reduce, then you remove, then you campaign  for carbon transparency and change across the industry.  Transparency is key in this equation  not just to ensure that no ones fudged the numbers, but to convince jaded travellers whove been bombarded with empty promises that this is far from an exercise in greenwashing. The carbon labels have all been verified by a third-party carbon consultant, in this case C-Level, before being peer reviewed by a range of partners and experts. In Much Better Adventures case, the label includes carbon emissions from all local transport, accommodation, activities, guides, staff and office operations. Every single trip now has its own fully measured footprint, with the detail granular enough that the company can start to tweak elements to reduce that number even further. Carbon labels should be the new calorie Sam Bruce, Much Better Adventures  The label doesnt include flights and travel to the destination  partly because we dont offer flights and because we didnt have the data, says Sam  but the business still measured a sample of its trips with air travel accounted for. Flights made up the majority of the carbon footprint of our trips  80 per cent, says Sam. Our bit of the holiday was relatively low in carbon  were camping, were kayaking, were hiking. The bit that needs work is the flights. Thats where we need to provide better low-carbon alternatives.  The brand is already making some headway in this area, having released a new collection of flight-free trips swapping plane for train. Pura Aventura, another travel company with sustainability at its heart thats released carbon labelling this year, has taken a different approach. The UK tour operator introduced labels for itineraries as part of its preparation to become a certified B Corporation  the premier sustainability certification only awarded to brands that are legally committed to balancing purpose and profit  but it wasnt as straightforward as giving each trip a number. Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures California In this decade, humans have become ever more aware of climate change. Calls for leaders to act echo around the globe as the signs of a changing climate become ever more difficult to ignore Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Athens, Greece Fierce wildfires have flared up in numerous countries. The damage being caused is unprecedented: 103 people were killed in wildfires last year in California, one of the places best prepared, best equipped to fight such blazes in the world AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Redding, California Entire towns have been razed. The towns of Redding and Paradise in California were all but eliminated in the 2018 season AP Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Athens, Greece While wildfires in Greece (pictured), Australia, Indonesia and many other countries have wrought chaos to infrastructure, economies and cost lives AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Carlisle, England In Britain, flooding has become commonplace. Extreme downpours in Carlisle in the winter of 2015 saw the previous record flood level being eclipsed by two feet AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Hebden Bridge, England Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire has flooded repeatedly in the past decade, with the worst coming on Christmas Day 2015. Toby Smith of Climate Visuals, an organisation focused on improving how climate change is depicted in the media, says: "Extreme weather and flooding, has and will become more frequent due to climate change. An increase in the severity and distribution of press images, reports and media coverage across the nation has localised the issue. It has raised our emotions, perception and personalised the effects and hazards of climate change." Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Somerset, England Out west in Somerset, floods in 2013 led to entire villages being cut off and isolated for weeks Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Dumfries, Scotland "In summer 2012, intense rain flooded over 8000 properties. In 2013, storms and coastal surges combined catastrophically with elevated sea levels whilst December 2015, was the wettest month ever recorded. Major flooding events continued through the decade with the UK government declaring flooding as one of the nation's major threats in 2017," says Mr Smith of Climate Visuals Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Weather has been more extreme in Britain in recent years. The 'Beast from the East' which arrived in February 2018 brought extraordinarily cold temperatures and high snowfall. Central London (pictured), where the city bustle tends to mean that snow doesn't even settle, was covered in inches of snow for day PA Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Months after the cold snap, a heatwave struck Britain, rendering the normally plush green of England's parks in Summer a parched brown for weeks AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures New South Wales, Australia Worsening droughts in many countries have been disastrous for crop yields and have threatened livestock. In Australia, where a brutal drought persisted for months last year, farmers have suffered from mental health problems because of the threat to their livelihood Reuters Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Tonle Sap, Cambodia Even dedicated climate skeptic Jeremy Clarkson has come to recognise the threat of climate change after visiting the Tonle Sap lake system in Cambodia. Over a million people rely on the water of Tonle Sap for work and sustinence but, as Mr Clarkson witnessed, a drought has severley depleted the water level Carlo Frem/Amazon Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Addis Ababa, Ethiopia In reaction to these harbingers of climate obliteration, some humans have taken measures to counter the impending disaster. Ethiopia recently planted a reported 350 million trees in a single day AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Morocco Morocco has undertaken the most ambitious solar power scheme in the world, recently completing a solar plant the size of San Francisco AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Electric cars are taking off as a viable alternative to fossil fuel burning vehicles and major cities across the world are adding charging points to accomodate AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Purmerend, The Netherlands Cities around the world are embracing cycling too, as a clean (and healthy) mode of transport. The Netherlands continues to lead the way with bikes far outnumbering people Jeroen Much/Andras Schuh Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Xiamen, China Cycling infrastructure is taking over cities the world over, in the hope of reducing society's dependency on polluting vehicles Ma Weiwei Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Chennai, India Despite positive steps being taken, humans continue to have a wildly adverse effect on the climate. There have been numerous major oil spills this decade, the most notable being the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Amazon rainforest, Brazil More recently, large swathes of the Amazon rainforest were set alight by people to clear land for agriculture AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures California This decade may have seen horrors but it has led to an understanding that the next decade must see change if human life is to continue Getty  The complexity we have is that all our trips are tailor-made  so we cant say weve got 50 trips and lets measure the carbon of each one, says co-founder and CEO Thomas Power. Every trip is different. You need a live tool  so we built it into our database.  The company doesnt just measure the trip itself, but includes the travel to get there, door-to-door: We want to know where you live, where the airport is, which flight youre taking, says Thomas. We can plug into the database your postcode, Gatwick airport, your short-haul flight  and then the carbon factor calculates the journey and the amount of carbon produced.  It means that Pura Aventura can get an accurate picture of emissions per trip  although going the extra mile is, quite literally, built into the process. The carbon measurement is done by the amount of carbon emitted per kilometre, but the company rounds it up to the amount per mile; a multiplication of about 1.6. The next step for both travel companies is mitigation. Although its an added bonus for customers to be able to compare and contrast carbon labels for different holidays, the real end goal for the businesses is to ensure emissions are being offset, after being reduced as much as possible. This is genuinely about companies wanting to do the right thing Thomas Power, Pura Aventura  From our perspective, rather than putting the burden onto customers, its our responsibility as a business to take the next step, says Sam. We dont put that on the customer and I think thats right. Were going to plant enough trees to sequester double the amount of carbon emitted from our trips. Were also funding rewilding projects, rather than just putting new trees in the ground.  Thomas also takes Pura Aventuras mitigation efforts seriously: the company helps fund a rural community development project called Taking Root based in Nicaragua, employing locals to harvest native seeds and grow the saplings in nurseries. Farmers are given a long-term income via a 10-year stipend predicated on the health of the trees, which also facilitate the growing of shade-grown crops, commanding a higher price. One of Much Better Adventures trips to Montenegro (Much Better Adventures)  Both brands are deeply aware that carbon labelling is only part of the story  that in order for tourism to truly become more responsible, there needs to be a tipping-point shift towards slow travel, with an emphasis on local providers and longer, fewer trips. But its a good place to start; and it looks like the wider world may soon follow suit. I think schemes like carbon labelling and the B Corp movement are being picked up rapidly by businesses, says Thomas. Theres imperfection and greenwashing, yes, but the conversations were having across industries werent being had 10 years ago. And these arent being driven by customer demand  this is genuinely about companies wanting to do the right thing. Its as simple as that.