Tui Travel has exceeded its latest airline carbon reduction target of 9% a year ahead of schedule.
The group’s six airlines have reduced relative carbon emissions by 9.3% in five years, 12 months before its sustainable holidays plan concludes.
Average CO2 per revenue passenger kilometre now stands at 70.7g – an improvement of 3.2% since 2012.
Tui Travel said 3.8 million customers went on ‘greener and fairer’ holidays across the group last year, up 1.8 million from 2012. This leaves a target of 4.2 million for 2014.
The aim is to deliver 10 million ‘greener and fairer’ holidays over three years to 2015 by measuring the number of holidaymakers staying in hotels with credible sustainability certifications.
“We are committed to influencing more hotels to achieve credible sustainability certifications, so as to be assured that our suppliers are making continual sustainability improvements. This not only improves our sustainability performance, but also benefits our suppliers,” Tui said.
Tui UK & Ireland pioneered a scheme to support 40 of its differentiated hotels to achieve reductions in energy and water usage in 2013, resulting in average cost savings of 6% for energy and 13% for water, generating savings of nearly €2 million.
Group sustainable development director Jane Ashton said: ‘Tui Travel’s aim is to support sustainability change at scale, both across our own operations and the wider industry.
“We made a significant step towards this in 2013, when Tui Travel airlines’ carbon efficiency improvements exceeded our expectations, and we saw a major shift in the number of our hotel suppliers who have now achieved credible and independently-audited sustainability certification.
“We look forward to building on this in 2014, the third and final year of our sustainable holidays plan, as we strive to fulfil our four goals and 20 commitments.