What tourism can learn from Tesco
What tourism can learn from Tesco As Tesco invests £5m in developing a carbon labelling scheme1 to help us choose between the well-travelled mango and the stay-at-home strawberries, responsibletravel.com says there is a need for the same level of realistic analysis to be applied to our holidays. By looking at the entire lifecycle of a range of products rather than the flight alone from the country of origin to the UK, The Carbon Trust’s carbon labelling initiative recently found that from the seed to the distribution centre, roses from Kenya that are sold in the UK, produce less carbon than those grown in Holland, while New Zealand lamb is less carbon intensive than UK lamb2. responsibletravel.com is calling for a similar trip into uncharted territory – to uncover the net carbon emissions of our holidays. Until now, science has focused on carbon emissions resulting from flights but there has been little or no investigation into the potential carbon savings that may result from leaving the energy-intensive UK behind for a couple of weeks, getting back to nature and switching off (quite literally) on a low energy consuming holiday. At responsibletravel.com, while advocating that people take fewer, longer and more responsible holidays to reduce the amount they fly, Justin Francis, co-founder and managing director, believes that the potential carbon savings resulting from certain types of holidays will contribute some way towards offsetting the carbon emissions of the flights. Francis says: "Take an average fortnight for a typical household in the UK. Every day is rich in energy consumption: the daily commute, the use of the washing machine and tumble dryer, the central heating gobbling up more, boiling the kettle, driving to the shops; the list goes on… ”Now stop all that carbon emitting activity and turn off those appliances for two weeks away from it all. Potentially, the carbon emissions from your day-today activities whilst on holiday could be a lot less than your carbon emissions at home." Of course, responsible tourism brings many other benefits too, that are indirectly linked to more sustainable lifestyles, including employment, local economic benefits and placing a value on the conservation of cultural and natural heritage (including C02 absorbing forestry). Why is this important?
responsibletravel.com is calling for the Government to undertake serious investigation into the net carbon impact of a holiday to allow the consumer to make an informed choice as to which type of holiday they want to take and when. ##Ends## Further information 1Information World Review: http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/features/2193919/digging-tesco-green-label 2Kenya roses v. Holland roses - credited to The Ashridge Report: http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/downloads/carbonlabelling_workshop.pdf 3See press release on how the processes involved in clothing production emit more carbon emissions than flying: http://www.responsibletravel.com/Copy/Copy901693.htm 4responsibletravel.com calls for analysis of the carbon emissions of different genres of holidays e.g. the short break to Spain v. a long haul fortnight holiday to Africa. Suggest 30 different genres to help the consumer make their decision. The Carbon Trust - labelling scheme: http://www.carbon-label.co.uk Notes to editors responsibletravel.com is an on-line travel agent - based in Brighton, England - launched in 2001 for travellers who want more real and authentic holidays that also benefit the environment and local people. responsibletravel.com markets carefully pre-screened holidays from over 270 leading worldwide tourism brands and businesses. More about the company here. |
