skiScandinavia Sustainability

From June 2018 to June 2019 Scandinavian Travel offset more than 57 tonnes of carbon and provided 100% carbon neutral holidays for all of its customers as part of our AITO Project PROTECT Pledge. This was a continuation of what we had already achieved during our pledge the year before.

We chose this pledge because of the increasing awareness of the impact that climate change has on the travel industry and, in particular, the winter sports industry. By offsetting the carbon produced by our holidays, we benefit our destinations, struggling communities, and the UK.

Over the last year, the projects we supported planted more than 56 trees in the UK, protected the same number in the Amazon, and repaired boreholes in Uganda. This has greatly reduced the impact of our clients’ holidays on the environment, both socially and environmentally, providing environmental improvements on a global and local scale, locked away carbon in trees and reduced the amount of carbon released from fossil fuels.

Our project has provided significant and measurable impacts and has run smoothly with limited resources. Everyone in the office is now more aware of the benefits of the carbon offsetting, and we are all keen to continue the support. We have also worked hard on increasing client awareness and the success of this can now be seen in their increased response to our survey about the pledge this year. It has been a real pleasure to see the increase in awareness of both staff and clients. Receiving the certificates showing how much we have offset from Carbon Footprint is also a testament to the success of the project.

One of our pledge aims was to be a responsible tour operator that our clients, suppliers and staff are proud to travel and work with. We believe that our initial accomplishments, and continued commitment to carbon neutral holidays has helped us toward achieving this aim.

In 2019/2020 Scandinavian Travel will continue to provide 100% of its customers with 100% carbon neutral holidays, maintaining our position as the only specialist tour operator to provide completely carbon neutral holidays to Scandinavia.

In 2017 as part of our AITO PROTECT project, Scandinavian Travel introduced carbon neutral holidays and offset 181 tonnes of carbon. Following a successful launch, from July 2018 we will become the first Scandinavian specialist Tour Operator to exclusively provide carbon neutral holidays.

Scandinavia has a reputation as an environmentally responsible region, and as specialists in this area Scandinavian Travel wanted to make similar commitments to the environment and climate. There is a significant carbon footprint associated with travel, especially greenhouse gas emissions from air travel, and limiting the footprint of our customers continues to be an appropriate pledge for us.

This year we aim to offset 500 tonnes of carbon by covering the cost to offset the per person carbon footprint in all our holiday packages. As in 2017, offsetting will be through two accredited projects, but this year we are letting our customers choose the second project we donate to. Voting will take place in July through an online poll sent out to our customer database by email and social media. This year we aim to raise awareness of our pledge internally and externally.

Our carbon neutral holidays provide Scandinavian Travel customers with an effortless way of travelling responsibly in Scandinavia. By delivering carbon neutral products we are directly contributing to the fight against global climate change. This directly benefits our destinations and will help protect the winter sports industry for future generations. Scandinavian Travel clients can be proud to book and travel with a responsible Tour Operator.

• http://www.scandinavian-travel.co.uk/carbon-neutral-holidays