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Fig . 15 Have you calculated your GHG emissions ?
Walking the talk ?
“ Walking the talk around sustainability is a must ” says bp ’ s Richard Eades , “ but it ’ s made harder by the immaturity of the travel industry . It ’ s not just the carbon , it ’ s aligning and measuring against the people , the planet , the places and so on .”
“ Culturally , sustainability is definitely a recognised requirement across the western world , especially in the UK and Europe . But when you move into the Middle East , Africa and Asia Pacific , sustainability is not .”
“ bp is always under the microscope from shareholders , the public and media . We have committed to becoming net zero by 2030 , so we have dedicated teams that capture our data , and we also have global offsetting programmes .”
“ Our focus is working out how to bring more of an informed position at the point of transaction , so sustainability is added into our booking tool as a selection criteria alongside location , cost , and traveller safety . Then we have to decide how these criteria are weighted so that bookers can make the right choices .”
Actions speak louder
Graebel ’ s Beverly King sits on the organisation ’ s CSR steering committee . Graebel has embraced sustainability as members of the United Nations Global Compact , is already certified to the ISO 14001 environmental standard , and is going through the EcoVadis sustainability rating for global supply chains .
“ We ’ ve started to move towards accommodations that have independently assessed accreditation ” she says . “ We absorb any cost implication as part of the cost of doing business because whilst some clients are very savvy about sustainability , others needed to be guided and we don ’ t yet have consensus on what good best practice is .”
“ Our other challenge is that , whilst we can measure ourselves within Graebel , there ’ s no agreed global approach on how global suppliers ’ sustainability should be measured , so they are measured differently by location and practice . This is something we all need to work on together across industry to help drive positive , sustained change and a more mindful approach to mobility .”
One brand to set an example is Bob W ., as Co-Founder and CEO Niko Karstikko explains .
“ People deserve to know our CO2 emissions on a per apartment basis . Having made the numbers public , we then double offset those emissions . 100 % of our electricity is renewable . We have second hand furniture , fixtures , and equipment in every apartment .”