In recognition of Earth Day, Red Carnation Hotels has shared its five step Climate Action Plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, led by its mother company, The Travel Corporation (TTC).
As a leader in the industry, Red Carnation Hotels has always been cognisant of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from its trips and operations and is taking strategic action to address the issue. Through the company’s not-for-profit arm, the TreadRight Foundation, Red Carnation Hotels is also investing in two nature-based carbon removal solutions, Project Vesta and Greenwave.
TreadRight has also launched a new Impact Hub – an online platform that illustrates efforts to ensure progress against TTC’s sustainability strategy, How We Tread Right, as well as to guide consumers and travellers on addressing their own carbon footprint.
“Our TTC Climate Action Plan is not marked by one quick fix, because there isn’t one,” explains Chief Executive of The Travel Corporation, Brett Tollman. “It is marked with the need to act now, to learn and adapt as technology and innovation support our need to transition to a low-carbon business. There is much debate as to the right approach when it comes to decarbonizing travel and tourism, and our position is that this must be a process that begins now and commits to evolving as the solutions continue to improve and become available to us.”
The Travel Corporation’s Climate Action Plan includes five key points:
MEASURE: To measure the emissions from its business and trips
REDUCE: To build on reduction efforts and set ambitious reduction targets by mid-2022
REMOVE: To invest in new technology and nature-based solutions to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere
OFFSET: To purchase carbon credits to offset unavoidable emissions, including phasing in carbon neutral trips between 2022 – 2030
EVOLVE: To continue to learn from others, invest in new technologies and support strategic alliances that enable TTC and the industry to move to a low carbon economy
This Climate Action Plan addresses Goals #1 and #2 of Red Carnation Hotels’ five-year sustainability strategy, How We Tread Right. These two goals commit to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and to sourcing to 50 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2025 across all 18 properties, respectively.
Looking forward, all offices and business travel will be carbon neutral by January 2022 throught the company’s partnership with offset provider South Pole. Since the launch of its first sustainability strategy in 2015, advancements to date include the the implementation of a 400kW Tesla plant which supplies 95 per cent at Xigera Safari Lodge – Red Carnation Hotels’ newest opening in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, in addition to a switch to 100% renewable energy at Ashford Castle in County Mayo, Ireland.
Other key sustainability goals for Red Carnation Hotels include reducing food waste across each of the hotels by 50% through the implementation of Winnow Solutions – a groundbreaking AI technology. This is in addition to increasing the use of local and organic products in its supply chain by 2025, reducing printed brochures and materials by 50% and eliminating unnecessary single use plastics by 2022. Other goals including increasing employee and market sentiment regarding diversity and inclusion and ensuring staff contribute 30,000 hours of volunteer work by 2025.
