Wilderness Scotland has set out its plans to become ‘true net zero’ by 2030.
The operator has committed to reducing its emissions by 90% from 2020 levels and to permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere for those emissions which remain.
It comes as world leaders meet in Scottish city Glasgow for the Cop26 summit on climate change, where the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action on Tourism is due to be signed by policy makers and industry representatives tomorrow – which will encourage the travel industry to halve emissions by 2030.
Wilderness Scotland says it will introduce a carbon labelling scheme, including surveys of over 300 of its partner hotels.
In January 2020, the company was one of the founding signatories to Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency, committing to a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
Co-founder Paul Easto (pictured), who is to speak at a Cop26 Destination Net Zero event, said: “The Wilderness Group is not only 100% supportive of the Glasgow Declaration but is going further over the next decade.
“Our goal, through commitment to science-based emission reduction targets, is to not only half our emissions by 2030 but to achieve True Net Zero status.”
“This commitment is only possible through the ground-breaking work we have done with the eCollective to precisely calculate the carbon footprint of each of the Wilderness Scotland, Wilderness Ireland and Wilderness England businesses.
“This work has involved more science than I will ever understand, alongside surveying 300+ suppliers plus a serious amount of spreadsheet power!
“The end result is not only a carbon footprint for the entire business but also the carbon footprint for each and every traveller joining any one of our 156 itineraries.
“We hope that the carbon labelling scheme we’re also launching today will become the norm for travel and tourism, allowing customers to make informed decisions on where and how to travel.”
Wilderness Scotland operates a ‘leave no trace’ policy, encourage guests to visit remote locations to help ease over-tourism and work with local rewilding and wildlife charities through their Conservation Contribution Scheme.
To reach True Net Zero by 2030, Wilderness Scotland will redesign itineraries to reduce road travel, decarbonise their vehicle fleet and continue to work with charity Trees for Life by investing in carbon removal at its Highland estate at Dundreggan.