Tour Operator Intrepid Drops Accounts and Target Emissions | Travel and leisure

One of the travel industry’s most environmentally focused tour operators, Intrepid, is removing carbon offsets and abandoning its emissions targets as unattainable.

The Australian-level global travel company said it would instead invest one year’s ($980,000) $2 million a year in an audited “Climate Impact Fund” supporting immediate practical measures such as switching to electric vehicles and investing in renewable energy.

Intrepid, which specializes in small group tours, said it was stopping carbon offsets and “moving away” from the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI), after committing to 2030 goals monitored by the climate certification organization five years ago.

In an open letter to staff, Intrepid co-founder and chairman Darrell Wade and chief executive James Thornton said: “Intrepid, and frankly the entire travel industry, is not on track to achieve a 1.5°C future, and more urgent action is needed if we are to get closer.”

Although Intrepid’s brand focuses on the low impact of its group tours, it has long conceded that its larger footprint is the flights its clients take to reach them, with Wade also admitting two years ago that its compensations were “not credible.”

The letter blamed governments that “failed to act on ambitious policies on renewable energy or sustainable aviation fuels that support the scale of change required,” adding: “We are not comfortable maintaining a target that we know we will not win.”

Thornton said the change should build trust through transparency rather than losing customers by admitting its climate commitments had not worked. He told the Guardian: “We were the first global tour operator to adopt a science-based target through the SBTI and now we own the fact that it doesn’t work for us. We’ve always been real and transparent, that’s how we build trust.”

He said the fund and a new target for reducing the “carbon intensity” of each trip had been developed by climate scientists and would be verified by independent auditors.

Part of that attempt would be to reduce the number of long-haul flights customers take, Thornton said, by prioritizing domestic and short-short trips, and offering more non-flying itineraries and walking or trekking tours.

Environmental activists have long rejected mismatches and focused on reducing theft. Doug Parr, Greenpeace’s UK chief scientist, said offset schemes had allowed “airlines and other big polluters to falsely claim green credentials while continuing to pump emissions”.

He said Greenpeace had supported a frequent flyer levy, with a tax-free first flight each year to avoid taxing an annual family holiday, but increased sharply with subsequent flights to deter “excessive flyers which are the main driver of growth for UK flights”.

Thornton said he had seen “first-hand how important meaningful climate action is to our founders and owners, who see it as part of their legacy,” but added: “We have to be honest with ourselves that travel is not sustainable in its current format and anything that suggests otherwise is greenwashing.”