Red Carnation Hotels has chosen Earth Day 2021 to announce its new Climate Action Plan which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, led by its parent company, The Travel Corporation (TTC).
With carbon dioxide emissions set to jump this year by the second-highest rise in history, TTC Chief Executive, Brett Tollman believes it is essential for the company to take action: “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,” he says.
Red Carnation Hotels’ action plan focuses on five key points: measuring emissions from its trips; building on existing reduction efforts; investing in new technology to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere; offsetting unavoidable emissions via carbon credits (for example, in the form of tree planting initiatives); and finally, continuing to evolve by learning from others and supporting strategic alliances that enable both the company and the industry to move to a low carbon economy.
[See also: Earth Day: The Luxury Hotels and Resorts Going Green]
The Stargazing deck at Xigera Safari Lodge / ©Red Carnation Hotels
Situated in the western reaches of Botswana’s iconic Moremi Game Reserve, the eco-resort offers exceptional safari experiences /©Red Carnation Hotels
So what will this look like in reality? The hotel group and its parent company are taking a long-term approach. Tollman says: “Our [plan] is not marked by one quick fix, because there isn’t one. 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.”
Red Carnation Hotels plan to set ambitious carbon reduction targets by the middle of next year and will be phasing in carbon-neutral trips between 2022-2030. The boutique hotel brand also intends to source 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025 across all 18 of its luxury properties, respectively.
[See also: Wilderness Safaris Unveils New DumaTau Camps]
The action plan will also see TTC work with its not-for-profit arm the TreadRight Foundation to invest $100,000 in two independent carbon removal programs: Project Vesta which is tackling carbon dioxide emissions, and Greenwave, a non-profit focused on pioneering ocean farming systems.
The new Climate Action Plan comes off the back of Red Carnation Hotels’ existing inroads into sustainable practices. Since the launch of its first sustainability strategy in 2015, it has installed a state-of-the-art water treatment plant and a 400kW Tesla Solar plant at its new Xigera Safari Lodge property in Botswana’s breathtaking Okavango Delta. The hotel group’s famous Ashford Castle property set in Ireland’s lush green county of Mayo has also had an eco-update, with the 800-year-old castle now running on 100% renewable energy.
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