Travel industry leaders have been told to “act now” and use their positions to speed decarbonisation of the sector.
Susan Hooper, director of the Chapter Zero group of non-executive directors campaigning for action on climate change, told the Leaders in Travel Summit in London last week: “Climate change is an existential issue and this decade is absolutely critical. We have to halve emissions by 2030.
“The only time we’ve seen emissions fall was in 2020 and think what disruption it took.
“We need that to happen every year for 10 years, but we have gone backwards since. It’s not going to be comfortable, but the longer we leave it the more difficult it will be.”
Hooper, a former managing director of British Gas residential services, who has served on the boards of Wizz Air, Uber UK and other companies and headed the travel division of Acromas Holdings when the group owned Saga Travel and Titan Travel, noted: “I was on the boards of six companies and climate change wasn’t on the agenda of any of them.”
She told the summit, hosted by Elman Wall, part of the Xeinadin group of accountancy and advisory firms: “I encourage you all to make the most of your influence. Baby steps have no place in this. It’s not business as usual any more.
“The cost of inaction five to 10 years from now is likely to be significantly higher than the cost of action today.”
Cooper argued low-cost travel would rapidly become “a thing of the past, because someone has to pay for it”, and insisted: “We should be capping airport capacity.”
She argued: “You’re all going to have carbon accounts in your businesses in five years. It’s going to be seismically different and it’s better to start now. We’re not on an emissions-reduction glide path.
“Recognise the financial risks, build business capabilities and make decisions to advance the transformation. We need to act. We can’t put it off any more.”
Hooper called for a move away from discussing ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues, saying: “I’m not a fan of ESG – social and governance issues distract. We’re talking about fundamental environmental change and it’s time-boxed. Don’t water down your focus by trying to cram everything in.”