If you’re not part of the solution, they say, you’re part of the problem.
The travel business literally revolves around Planet Earth, and we all share a responsibility to sustain it, says Internova CEO J. D. O’Hara. To that end, the travel company is committed to becoming carbon neutral by the end of the year. And when they invited some top suppliers to talk about their own efforts to cut down carbon emissions and sustain the Earth, they also called on travel advisors to do their part to help.
From Hilton on the ground to Delta Air Lines, Air France/KLM and Virgin Atlantic in the skies, Internova’s suppliers also are working toward reducing their carbon emissions and their negative impact on the planet. But, they need the help of advisors to educate their mutual customers and win their support.
Speaking at the latest in a series of events Internova has held for the press this spring, O’Hara noted that the company’s 100,000 travel advisors “make our living by sending people to all corners of the world,” so it is “deeply committed to sustainability.”
In April, for example, Delta Air Lines began a test to use paper cups instead of plastic inflight, said Gail Grimmett, SVP of sustainability, performance and strategic partnerships—but it expects that customers’ first reactions will not be positive. So “bringing you and our customers on this journey with us is absolutely critical,” she noted.
Despite “a host of initiatives” around the goal of “embedding sustainability in everything we do,” Delta “can’t wait for perfection, because there is no perfect solution.” Still, its efforts so far have removed 4.9 million pounds of plastic from its planes.
The airline also is buying carbon offsets and putting an emphasis on carbon neutrality, Grimmett said. “Our customers are asking us to be responsible and do something; our employees and our investors are asking us to do something. Everybody we care about cares about this issue.”
Also in the works are programs to create jet fuel from beans, and to conserve fuel by flying more direct routes and slowing planes down when they are scheduled to arrive early.
While today aviation is the source of 2%-3% of greenhouse gases, “we’re an industry that’s very hard to decarbonize,” she noted. “And, if we don’t start, we will represent 50%-70%.”
Hilton Offers a Hand
Hilton’s Environmental, Social and Governmental (ESG) strategy, Travel with Purpose, is being pushed not only by the hotel company, but also by customers, especially corporate customers that are focused on the same goals. “Some of your customers are companies that are establishing the same sort of goals,” said Nancy Prowda, senior director, ESG. “When they travel, they are looking for more sustainable travel—so our goal is to arm you with good information, so you can be a consultant to your travelers.”
The use of digital room keys has saved 22 tons of plastic so far. Hilton is happy to share data on its ESG initiatives with travel advisors, who can in turn share it with groups and conference and meeting planners. They also can share a “Meet with Purpose” checklist with tips on how to make a meeting more sustainable, and detail the carbon footprint of an individual meeting. That’s an opportunity for travel advisors and meeting planners to show customers your expertise, she noted.
More Efforts in the Skies
Air France and KLM, meanwhile, are counting on their fleet modernization efforts; a new generation of aircraft that emits 25% less carbon dioxide will make up 45% of the fleet by 2025 and 70% by 2030, said Stacy James, CSR Sustainability Lead USA. And its Ecopiloting program focuses on using less fuel at every moment of the flight—from using a single engine to taxi to using electric power at the gate.
With a young fleet already in place, meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has eliminated beef from its menus and now has passengers preorder their food to slash food waste, said Zaida McLoughlin, director of global accounts.
While some travel advisors pooh-poohed sustainability efforts by suppliers as just window dressing, others expressed interest in helping with ESG efforts.
“I steer people toward properties that I know are making real efforts,” said Gail Hummel of Burkhalter Travel in Madison, WI. “I also try to steer them toward properties that are locally owned, and that I know build back into the community.”
A Personal Note
For me, ESG has become very personal, as I write this column from onboard the National Geographic Venture, cruising on Lindblad Expeditions’ 40th-anniversary sailing to Alaska. Virtually every presentation by the National Geographic scientists here in the temperate rain forest has touched on issues of global warming and the rights of native communities: the receding of the glaciers, the sharply falling rates of fish reproduction, the ongoing clashes between environmental and business concerns.
Is there anything we as individual human beings can do to help the planet?
“Stop traveling,” says one scientist.
But naturalist Jesse Humbert, whose life work is the study of octopuses (not octopi, he notes), suggests something more tangible. Virgin Atlantic actually is on the right path, he says; “it would make a huge difference if everyone would stop eating meat.”
What would help even more though, Humbert says, is “for ordinary people to become more intentional about where the planet is going. We’ve been told that the little things, like recycling plastic, are the only things we can do. But those are really pretty inconsequential. The biggest thing you can do is to influence policymakers.”
Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.