Climate action case studies
Discover how these tourism businesses are reducing their climate impact.
Your journey to net zero
Taking action may seem daunting, but we’re here to help you on your way.
This guide has been designed to help tourism businesses at an early stage or starting out on their climate action journey. However, businesses that are more advanced on their journey might still find it useful to incorporate elements of this guide into their current plans by developing more advanced actions. Taking responsibility for your business emissions and activities is a big first step on the road to net zero. This guide will help you on your way.
The importance of creating a climate action plan
Save our environment
Minimise the impact of climate change for future generations.
Save money
Less energy used means less money spent.
Attract visitors
76% of travellers express a desire to travel more sustainably (source: booking.com).
Future-proof
Prepare your business for the impacts of climate change.
Offsetting FAQ
Please use this FAQ to discover some frequently used terms with regards to offsetting. We also have some tips on how to use offsetting in the short term without accidentally committing greenwashing.
Offsetting is when you offset your carbon output by either investing in projects that absorb carbon from the atmosphere or by halting or paying to halt projects that would otherwise put carbon into the atmosphere.
It can be a controversial method of reducing emissions, with some businesses having been accused of greenwashing. This is because science shows that reaching net zero will mostly rely on quantifiable reduction of emissions from taking direct action from within your business sites operations or supply chain.
Offsetting can have its place as a tool, but only under certain specific circumstances. The backbone of any robust and transparent climate action plan should be doing as much as possible to reduce emissions to allow for a strong net zero transition.
“Carbon neutral” is among the most misunderstood terms, often used interchangeably or confused with net zero.
Carbon neutrality only considers carbon-based greenhouse gasses like CO₂. Net zero, meanwhile, takes all greenhouse gasses into account. This is often written out as CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent) emissions.
Because there are more greenhouse gasses than just the carbon, carbon neutrality will likely not make you reach net zero.
A carbon-neutral certification also doesn’t usually place any conditions on climate action planning. This can be risky if not used carefully.
This legal requirement for Scotland means that you have reduced all your emissions to as close to 0 by 2045 as possible. Any residual emissions are expected to be offset by, for example, being absorbed by the oceans and forests.
In short, the idea is that we cut our emissions to as near as zero as possible and then let nature do the rest.
There are some industry exceptions where, in some cases, 10% of residual emissions would be accepted from 2045 onwards. However, you would need to be confident and able to demonstrate in your plan why this was the case for your business.
Please bear in mind that, over the next decade, the cost of existing low to zero emission products is expected to come down whilst technological innovations will be refined and scaled up.
The 90/10 guideline is something you may have heard when it comes to cutting versus offsetting your emissions as developed by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTI) who subscribe to greenhouse gas protocol.
When it comes to reaching net zero, it’s best practice for businesses to first actively try to cut their emissions as much as possible to zero by 2045. A business could offset about 10% of their emissions by the time 2045 comes.
Offsetting technology and regulation might improve in the future. So, relying on no more than 10% offsetting in 2045 would still allow you to reach net zero and negate risk, provided you can demonstrate this.
We can totally understand that businesses want to promote themselves as “green” or “sustainable”.
Offsetting more than residual emissions in the short-term with a transparent and ironclad plan to reduce your offsetting to 10% by 2045 can be effective.
But businesses that rely too heavily on offsetting can risk an overreliance and making unsubstantiated claims of being sustainable or not having reached net zero at all.
Remember, planting trees can be a good thing that should be supported as it creates resilience in nature. But being reliant indefinitely on it is a risk in comparison to making direct reductions.
Some companies temporarily use more offsets of only their carbon dioxide in the short-term as they wait for technology and funds to become available, with the plan to keep reducing those in favour of making direct cuts in the future with a desire to support nature based resilience.
Looking to excel at offsetting? Small business consultancy Small99 do a helpful breakdown of the price differences and best practice when considering responsible short and longer-term offsetting as part of a net zero strategy.
Browse convenient breakdowns on offsetting on small99.co.uk.
Navigate the best ways to offset emissions on small99.co.uk.
