This decision highlights our founding commitment to developing a more responsible alternative for travel agents and tour operators that puts people, planet, and purpose, on the same pedestal as profit when we determine our success.
COP26 has finally drawn to a close. After two weeks of high-profile talks, world leaders struck a deal on Saturday between almost 200 countries. The agreement is intended to urge action towards preventing an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the average global temperature. While some developments were disappointing, others were a little more positive.
In the tourism industry, we all have a role to play. To achieve the change necessary, we must collaborate on a scale our industry hasn’t before seen. We must pay far more consideration to our supply chains. We must meet market demands by providing more sustainable and environmentally friendly options for travellers. We must have clear accountability structures in place to allow genuine measures to stand apart from greenwashed fluff pieces that have become all too common. Most importantly of all, we must act.
One of the defining goals of the Glasgow Declaration is a reduction of carbon emissions by tourism businesses to the tune of 50% of today’s levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. As a new business, we have no defined baseline metrics with which to weigh ourselves against, but we won’t allow this to stop us from doing our part.
During our first 12 months, we will define our measurement protocols across all of our service types. Many of which need to extend beyond our own business. From hotel suppliers to transport suppliers whether on land, air or sea, it is imperative that we set science-based targets which allow us to accurately account for the emissions of each of our products and services.
Our signing of the Glasgow Declaration only serves as a public declaration of the firm commitments we already made to ourselves when we chose to start out on this journey. It is what comes next that really matters.
We are proud to demonstrate our action over offering simple words, and our launch initiative to work with Plant with Purpose and plant a tree for every traveller is only a part of this. This decision was an extremely important one for us as we were concerned about the use of ‘tree farms’ which can actually cause irreparable damage to local ecosystems and oftentimes cause more harm than good. By working with Plant with Purpose we can ensure our support goes towards a bio-diverse plantation that uses a wide variety of native flora and fauna to regenerate and re-wild the natural ecosystems.
The approach we have chosen at this time also goes a long way to supporting the local communities. Plant with Purpose work with local groups to train them on improved agricultural techniques and land management methods, that help them to increase their farming yields. This allows them to more easily provide for their families and even turn small profits. They also take an active role in tackling the problems that statelessness has on many impoverished communities in northern Thailand.
Tripseed has committed to providing $1 USD to Plant with Purpose for every single traveller that travels with us, which equates to the plantation of one tree, and all travellers to Thailand can be ensured that the money donated will be put towards Thailand-based projects.
Still, there is much more to do. At Tripseed, we are actively engaging in community discussions and working on potential initiatives and solutions that will allow us to tackle the root causes of Asia’s burning season, which has a catastrophic impact on air quality during some periods of the year. We believe this is a pressing matter to tackle. Not only does it introduce huge amounts of particulates into the atmosphere, but it can also be very damaging to the health of the local population, and certainly off-putting for anyone visiting during a bad period. We don’t have the right solution yet, but we are passionately working towards it.
As part of being a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration, we commit to following the five pathways outlined by the One Planet Network.
- To measure and disclose our emissions and align to UNFCCC guidelines.
- To set and deliver targets aligned with climate science to accelerate tourism’s decarbonisation.
- To regenerate, restore and protect ecosystems and support nature’s ability to draw down carbon as well as safeguarding biodiversity.
- Collaborate with all other stakeholders to make sure our plans are effective.
- Ensure adequate organisational resources and capacity is sufficient to meet our objectives.
We encourage all of our suppliers, partners, competitors, and everyone else in the industry to strongly consider joining us in committing to the Glasgow Declaration and becoming signatories alongside us. Only together can we grow travel back better.
