Intrepid Travel, an Australian-headquartered tour operator known for its environmental focus, has announced it will scrap carbon offsets and abandon its emissions targets, citing them as unreachable. The company will instead invest A$2m (£980,000) annually in a 'climate impact fund' supporting renewable energy and electric vehicle adoption.
In an open letter to staff, co-founder Darrell Wade and CEO James Thornton stated that 'Intrepid, and frankly the entire travel industry, is not on track to achieve a 1.5C future'. They criticised governments for failing to implement ambitious policies on renewable energy and sustainable aviation fuels, adding: 'We are not comfortable maintaining a target that we know we won’t meet.'
Thornton told the Guardian that the move aims to build trust through transparency, saying: 'We were the first global tour operator to adopt a science-based target through the SBTi and now we’re owning the fact that it’s not working for us.' The new fund and a revised target to reduce carbon intensity per trip have been developed by climate scientists and will be independently audited.
To cut emissions, Intrepid plans to prioritise domestic and short-haul trips, offer more flight-free itineraries, and expand walking and trekking tours. Thornton acknowledged that 'travel is not sustainable in its current format and anything suggesting otherwise is greenwashing.'
Environmental campaigners have long dismissed offsets. Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, backed a frequent flyer levy to deter 'binge flyers', while noting that offsetting schemes have allowed airlines to falsely claim green credentials.
