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Our Climate-Biodiversity Action Plan

It’s an unfortunate truth that the global travel industry produces a significant amount of environmentally harmful carbon dioxide. That’s why, in November of 2021, G Adventures signed the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. Its purpose? To hold tourism organizations like ours accountable to developing a climate action plan for halving our carbon footprint by 2030, and reaching Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050.

Read on to discover our climate action plan that follows the Declaration’s five key pathways: Measure, Decarbonize, Regenerate, Collaborate, and Finance.

How we measure

To understand the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) we produce and how much different areas of our business generate, we measure our emissions from three different perspectives, or scopes.

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Scope 1

What we “burn”: how much CO2 our assets produce (our buses and boats, for example).

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Scope 2

What we “buy”: the amount of emissions generated from the electricity needed to power our offices.

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Scope 3

Everything “beyond” scopes 1 and 2: the CO2 produced by our trips, staff travel, employee commuting, and more.

As part of our responsibilities, we’ll also publicly report the emissions we measure each and every year. Our numbers so far? Starting with 2019 (our baseline year), we produced 122,902 tonnes of carbon dioxide. In 2022 (our latest year), we generated 49,088 tonnes.

Four ways we’re decarbonizing

Lowering our carbon footprint is an undertaking that not only spans our entire company, but every continent in the world. Here are a few initiatives we’ve implemented across our business to reduce the CO2 we produce.

Starting in July of 2023, we’ll be utilizing British Gas’ renewable energy to power of our offices in London, and we’ve committed to sourcing sustainable energy for our other offices wherever available moving forward.

In 2015, we invested in new, more efficient engines for our G Expedition ship, the largest single source of CO2 generated by our company. In 2017 we replaced the generators. These two investments resulted in reducing the ship’s CO2e footprint by approximately 15 percent.

We’ve launched an initiative to continually assess the size of the vehicles we use to ensure they’re appropriate for the size of our groups — the fewer empty seats there are, the lower our carbon footprint per person.

Following COVID, we revised our internal policies to limit business-related travel and further promote a culture of remote working.

Regenerating in progress

Our commitment to the Glasgow Declaration involves more than just reducing our emissions. Another key piece includes regenerating natural ecosystems, supporting local communities, and promoting sustainable tourism practices. We’re proud to say our new tree planting initiative, created in partnership with Planeterra, does exactly that.

Here’s how it works: for every day a customer travels with us, we’ll grow one tree on their behalf in local communities around the world that are in need of reforestation, or in forest areas that are under threat. Not only do trees remove CO2 from the atmosphere, they also provide crucial habitats, food, and shelter for wildlife, while making our planet and its local communities more resistant to extreme weather events for generations to come.

The power of this initiative spreads beyond the environment, however, and into the local communities that make it possible. By developing sustainable tourism enterprises within these communities, we’ll help create additional income opportunities for local residents, which most often benefits indigenous populations, women, and youth.

Collaborating for change

Protecting the environment takes a global village. We’re collaborating with Planeterra — the world’s leading non-profit community tourism organization — to help local communities around the world harness the power of tourism, improving their resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Together, G Adventures and Planeterra help local tourism businesses (such as restaurants, accommodations, and handicrafts) receive the support they need to grow and thrive — from infrastructure to training courses to the guests that visit.

While some projects directly benefit their natural environment (through regenerating biodiversity or removing discarded plastic), other projects provide crucial support to the local economy, a key factor in adapting to a changing environment.

We’re also open to working with industry partners and other travel companies to address these climate challenges together.

Financing the future

Money makes the world grow 'round. Here’s a few ways we’re investing in the health of our planet.

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Funding ourselves

G Adventures has committed $5 million CAD over the next five years to support every aspect of this climate-biodiversity action plan.

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Reforest investment

In 2022, we made a significant investment in a restorative travel technology start-up, Reforest, that helps travellers and tourism companies reduce their carbon footprint.

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Planeterra support

G Adventures continues to financially support Planeterra and its mission to uplift community tourism enterprises, including a new initiative aimed at making communities more environmentally resilient.