TTC sets up internal carbon fund

THE Travel Corporation (TTC) has announced the introduction of an “industry leading internal carbon fund” as part of company-wide measures to achieve net zero.

The move is an acceleration of the group’s Climate Action Plan, and has also seen the family of 40 travel brands become the first global tour operator to introduce verified carbon targets validated by the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi).

Shannon Guihan, TTC Chief Sustainability Officer, said “as a global industry leader, we appreciate the support of our travel industry partners as we take collective action to fight climate change”.

“Our focus is to identify a way forward that marries what the science is telling us with solutions to enable our decarbonisation.

“We need to reduce our emissions, and the surest way to do that is through direct investments into our business and our operations,” she said.

Replacing a previous commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030 is a new short-term goal of reducing in-house emissions by 46.2% by 2030 (based on a 2019 baseline year), and reducing emissions from purchased goods and services, business travel and use of sold products by 27.5%.

Longer term TTC aims to reduce all emissions by 90% by 2050.

TTC’s non-profit TreadRight Foundation will shift its efforts to prioritise nature-based carbon removal solutions that restore the planet, while the new internal Carbon Fund will be generated through revenue from TTC brands, and will be used solely for initiatives that contribute to the group’s net zero journey.

Key initiatives will include cutting energy use at Red Carnation Hotels, reducing Uniworld ship fuel emissions, securing zero emission vehicles for TTC Tour Brands, using renewable energy across all TTC offices globally, and reducing the carbon footprint of trips in collaboration with the supply chain and destinations.

TTC will publicly report on progress towards its sciencebased targets as well as the Carbon Fund itself in future annual impact statements.

Travel Corporation Australia CEO David Hosking said “our responsibility requires us to take meaningful action and becoming the first tour operator with validated science-based net zero targets is an important step forward in our sustainability journey” - see impact.ttc.com.