A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL IN 2023

PLANET-FRIENDLY WAYS TO EXPLORE ARE MORE POPULAR THAN EVER — AND MORE IMPORTANT, TOO. WORDS: RICHARD HAMMOND

Sustainable travel is about travelling in a way that’s sensitive to the climate and nature emergencies while ensuring that the wellbeing of the places we visit gain long-term benefit from us travelling there. It’s a balancing act between maximising the positives of travel while reducing or eliminating the negatives.

The concentration of carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere is well over 400 parts per million higher than at any time in at least 800,000 years — and still increasing.

The consensus is that a rise of just 1.5C will cause dangerous warming of the planet. The stability of our world’s climate hinges on whether we can keep this small rise in global temperatures in check and time’s running out. This is the decade that counts.

Being a sustainable traveller isn’t about making grand, one-off gestures, it’s an ongoing attitude to conscious adventure that influences all aspects of how we holiday — what we pack in our luggage and how we travel, as well as where we stay and activities we take part in while we’re there.

The single most significant way to reduce the carbon emissions of travelling is to tackle the transport portion, which is often responsible for at least 70% of the carbon emissions of a holiday. The most effective way to do this is to reduce the distance travelled and to travel in a way that burns fewer or, even better, no fossil fuels; or by not travelling in a vehicle at all, and choosing instead to travel on foot, by bike or under sail.