Low-Carbon Travel: Why You Should Go on a Low-Carbon Holiday
The planet is in crisis, and it needs your help.
For those of you who have been on a tour with us or follow us on Facebook and Instagram, you’ll know that greener living and sustainable travel are at the core of everything we do.
Do we really need David Attenborough or Greta Thunberg telling us the planet is in crisis? Surely we can all see it for ourselves. From out-of-control forest fires to increasingly powerful hurricanes, we are facing more global weather catastrophes than ever before. Our planet is hurting, and it needs healing.
We care deeply about the planet, and we want you to, too. The thing is, you can make a difference. Yes, you reading this. We can all make a difference in the way we live and travel. I know it’s baby steps, but if everyone made a small change in reducing their carbon footprint or eating less meat, it would all add up to make a big difference. All change starts with a small step forward.
At Adventure Tours UK, we genuinely care about the environment. That’s why we’ve created low-carbon holidays. What is low-carbon travel, I hear you ask? Good question!
In this post, we share why choosing low-carbon travel can be the positive change we can all make.
What is Low Carbon Travel?
As the name suggests, a low carbon holiday is where every aspect of the trip has been considered to ensure the CO2 emissions, and therefore your carbon footprint, are as low as can be. So your holiday will have minimal impact on the world around you.
Instead of us just saying “we’re a green company with some vague sustainable travel policy”, we wanted to go further than that by specifically showing you the amount of CO2e emitted on all of our tours.
You deserve to know everything about your trip when you book with us. Everything from what’s included, to where you go, and how much CO2e you’re producing along the way. That’s why, on all of our tours, you’ll see a carbon label showing the total amount of CO2e emitted per customer.
Since 2020, we’ve been working with our supplier partners and with eCollective, a travel-specialist carbon consultancy, to specifically measure the CO2e on each of our tours.
For this we follow the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). We work closely with our partners to gain accurate data on their own operations to include in our calculations. And where that data is not available, we have applied emission factors provided by DEFRA.
From these calculations, we continuously review and refine our tours to ensure their carbon footprints are as small as we can make them (without losing an ounce of adventure!)
And we’re not about to stop there – our aim is to reach Net Zero. By constantly making small but effective changes, we’re striving to reduce the carbon emitted per customer night by around 6% year on year. That’s our promise to you.
How Much CO2e Will You Emit on Our Tours?
Did you know that the average person in the UK produces 41kg CO2e every single day? Just driving 20 minutes up the road in a petrol car produces 5.6 CO2e, so you can see how this would quickly add up.
We’ve mentioned our commitment to sustainable travel throughout this post, but what does our sustainable travel policy actually look like in practice – how low are our carbon emissions?
When it comes to holidays, these are the typical CO2e numbers you’ll see:
- An average Dubai hotel room for the night: 99kg CO2e
- An economy ticket from London to Ibiza: 206kg CO2e
- An economy ticket from London to Vietnam: 1,352kg CO2e
- A business ticket from London to Vietnam: 3,922kg CO2e
It goes without saying that these numbers are massive. But what about us?
Well, on our adventures you’ll average just 16.1kg CO2e per person, per day. That’s 64% less than the average person in the UK produces simply going about their daily life.
As we said, all our tours come with transparent carbon labelling. This is the total carbon footprint per customer.
As an example, this is the total carbon footprint per customer on some of our best-selling tours:
- Trail Running Spring Camp North Wales (3 days) – 45kg CO2e per person (at an average of just 15kg CO2e per person per day)
- Mindful Walking North Wales (3 days) – 51kg CO2e (at an average of just 17kg CO2e per person per day)
- 14 Peaks Experience North Wales (5 days) – 62kg CO2e (at an average of just 12.4kg CO2e per person per day)
As you can see, all of these are well below the national average of CO2 emissions per person, so when you book with us, you can be confident it really is low carbon travel.
Why measuring your CO2 matters
I could talk about green travel and environmentally friendly holidays all day, but let’s jump straight to the facts on why measuring your CO2e matters:
- The 20 warmest years on record have all occurred in the past 22 years
- If the current warming trend continues, temperatures could rise 3-5oC by the end of this century
- A temperature rise of just 1.5oC is considered the benchmark of dangerous warming where irrevocable damage will occur
People who say there’s no evidence of global warming can’t ignore this. This is happening to our planet, and it’s happening now. This is a global crisis that requires all of us to act immediately. Choosing low-carbon, green holidays is just one of the ways you can do that.
Designing Low-Carbon Adventures from the Ground Up
At Adventure Tours UK, reducing carbon emissions isn’t something we consider as an afterthought, it’s baked into how we design and organise every trip. From the very first planning stage, we look at every element through a low-carbon lens.
Here are just some of the ways that we do this.
UK-based Locations
We focus only on UK-based adventures to encourage and help UK travellers explore the stunning landscapes that lie at their fingertips, without the need to fly. When we welcome travellers from further afield, we encourage them to choose low-carbon travel options, like taking trains or coaches.
Once everyone’s here, most of our experiences are human-powered: hiking, biking, trail running and paddling through the UK’s incredible wild spaces.
More Than Carbon Offsetting
While carbon offsetting isn’t a complete solution, we see it as a meaningful step alongside emissions reduction. That’s why we plant one tree for every guest on one of our small group or tailor-made UK adventures.
As we measure the impact of each tour, we know this one tree offsets more than the emissions created by every trip.
The tree species are carefully selected to remain authentic to the local environment, promoting a healthy and biodiverse environment. So far, planted species have included Birch, Oak, Rowan and Wild Cherry, at Ty’n-y-Pistyll, a two-acre site that’s now a growing haven for biodiversity and a carbon sink for the future. And now we’ve teamed up with Natural Resources Wales to support with tree planting within their LIFE Dee River project.
Voluntary Trail Cleans
Each and every one of our land-based tours also includes a voluntary trail clean in association with Trash Free Trails. These involve not just collecting and disposing of the waste properly, but quantifying and classifying the litter found into categories such as food packaging, water bottles and sports equipment.
Each year, Trash Free Trails collates the data into the State of Our Trails report and the statistics are used to compel the worst offending brands to take positive action.
Every Detail Counts
Every route, every overnight stay, every supplier is chosen with sustainable travel in mind. It’s how we keep your footprint small while delivering big on adventure.
How Can You Travel in a Low-carbon Way?
Planning a trip and looking for ways you can lower the carbon footprint of your travels? Rest assured, you can have the adventure of a lifetime while travelling sustainably. It’s not about missing out, it’s about planning with our planet in mind.
Here are a few easy ways to keep the carbon footprint of your trip as low as possible:
Choose Greener Ways to Get There
Try to avoid flying and opt for the train, ferry or coach wherever you can, including the Eurostar to reach the UK from Europe. You’ll cut your emissions dramatically – and let’s be honest, avoiding airport stress is a bonus! All of our UK adventures are accessible by public transport, and we’re always happy to help you plan your route.
Embrace Human-powered Adventures
Many of our tours are designed around hiking, biking and trail running – activities that are naturally low-carbon. You’ll explore the UK’s wild spaces under your own steam, rather than a machine’s!
Support Local, Stay Local
We work with local guides, stay in small-scale accommodation and keep food miles low wherever possible. It’s better for the planet and supports the communities you’re visiting.
When you book with us, you’re not just choosing adventure – you’re choosing a greener way to travel. And we believe that’s something worth being proud of.
Our promise to you
At Adventure Tours UK we are 100% committed to reducing our customers’ CO2 emissions and carbon footprint as much as possible. We practice what we preach in everything we do. Our carbon footprint is coming down, and every year it will continue to reduce as we make improvements.
Our outdoor, local and often human-powered adventures are always going to have a low carbon footprint. This is something worth shouting about and we believe it is the future of travel. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we need to rebuild better.
The thing is, when it comes to low-carbon travel, you don’t need to compromise on fun. You’ll still have the best time ever on all of our tours. One thing we can assure you is it’s never boring!
We have a vision for the future. It’s about getting outside, inhaling fresh mountain air, exploring the UK’s incredible wild spaces and experiencing a life-changing adventure through sustainable travel in the UK.
We have amazing low-carbon holidays all over the UK that don’t come at a cost to the planet. At the end of the day, we believe in change. We believe in you.
As ever, if any of you have any questions about our low-carbon holidays, please get in touch with us. We’re always happy discussing our low-carbon holidays and showing you what we’re doing to make a difference.
Oh, and you can read more about our Responsible Travel Policy to learn more about how we keep our trips sustainable, as well as our Climate Emergency Plan.
Who are Ecollective?
Ecollective are a team of self-confessed carbon geeks, committed to helping businesses fight the climate crisis. They do this by making it as simple as possible to measure carbon performance today and providing tools to improve it tomorrow.
By finding sustainable solutions that benefit the business, the customer and the planet, they create positive change that is quantifiable.
If you would like to find out more, email the ecollective team.
Summary
Low-carbon travel matters more than ever – but that doesn’t mean missing out on the fun. You can head off on unforgettable adventures, from surfing and hiking to mountain biking and trail running, all in epic natural settings and while keeping your carbon footprint low and protecting the planet.
Wanting to travel green and go on a low-carbon holiday? Check out our small group tours and self-guided tours for incredible outdoor adventures across the UK, from mountain biking in Wales to hiking the English-Welsh border. Contact us now to start planning an epic low-carbon adventure in the UK.
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