Riviera Travel has committed to reducing its customers’ carbon footprint by 20% within the next five years.
Speaking at a media event in London on Tuesday, the operator’s chief executive, Phil Hullah, announced a series of environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies it has pledged to deliver through its ‘Doing the right thing’ plan.
The plan has four pillars: sustainability, managing carbon footprint, operating ethically and charitable contributions.
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In addition to reducing guests’ carbon footprint, which will be measured on a per customer, per night basis across each holiday category, the operator has committed to halving its use of plastic and paper by 2025, issuing an ethics policy and sustainability checklist to all suppliers and partnering with charity Practical Action.
The charity works with communities to develop solutions for agriculture, water and waster management, climate resilience and clean energy.
Riviera Travel will donate £1 for every customer booked from 2024 onwards with the hope of raising £100,000 a year to be used in a new project aimed at cleaning up rivers and reducing waste in Kenya.
“The team at Riviera are committed to sustainable, ethical and responsible travel,” said Hullah.
“With the launch of our new plan, we will start the next phase of our journey, the aim being to ensure that Riviera, our partners and our peers ‘do the right thing’ in every way we can.
“We have chosen Practical Action as a new charity partner due to their alignment with our values and the impactful and exciting projects they have in the pipeline.
“Although we do not claim to have all of the answers, or to be the finished article yet, our ESG initiatives and aims are statements of where we hope to get to in the future.
“We are excited and determined to deliver on all of them, and plan to work collaboratively and openly with others in the industry to bring about wider change.”