climate & carbon

Climate change is one of the most talked about global issues today. Many scientists are telling us that we must act with urgency to reduce our carbon emissions if we are going to stop irreversible impacts to our precious home.

Here at My Adventure Store we're taking Intrepid's lead who have taken a long hard look at all their operations and have initiated various actions to reduce contributions to global warming. We're also endeavouring to help empower our staff and travellers to participate in emissions reductions measures.

In December 2006, Intrepid Travel announced the goal of becoming a carbon neutral company in 2010. It's a big goal, but there is belief that with support of staff and travellers, it can be done.

In their initial steps toward carbon neutrality, Intrepid underwent a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of our business. This was to help recognise impacts and identify the main sources of carbon emissions from their operations. From this process, they identified that corporate emissions (offices and retail stores- globally), trips and flights that our passengers take to join an Intrepid tour, were the main sources of carbon emissions.

Intrepid's Carbon Management Plan in a Nutshell is made up of the following principles:

• Measure
• Avoid
• Reduce or switch to an alternative
• Assess
• Offset

measure

This principle involves reviewing what Intrepid already measures and understanding what needs to be measured and monitored in order to achieve the objective of becoming carbon neutral. Identifying what needs to be measured and managed will be assisted by:

• Reviewing CO2 data already captured
• Setting organisational and operational boundaries
• Creating a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory

As identified in the LCA, concentrate on capturing data relating to:

• corporate emissions
• trips
• passenger flights

avoid

This principle involves activities through which emissions can be avoided. eg. not having a light on in a vacant room.

For emissions stemming from all Intrepid offices/retail stores (this includes offshore companies where Intrepid has operational/policy control), Intrepid will aim to put in place a number of Action Plans which will assist the organisation to avoid consumption of resources that contribute to emissions.

reduce or switch to an alternative

This principle describes measures that decrease the emissions intensity of essential activities eg. making lighting more efficient, using a more fuel efficient vehicle. Switching to an alternative may include sourcing from renewable sources or by exchanging fuel sources so that GHG impact is minimised eg. Converting to green energy to power the office.

Off-shore companies have also been consulted and have advised that they will ensure that they contribute to our carbon neutral goals and will seek to switch to an alternative source where it is feasible.

assess

This principle is used to reconcile all the actions and initiatives to reducing our carbon footprint and match them up to our objectives. Are we achieving our reduction targets? If not, a review will need to be conducted and new, feasible reduction opportunities will need to be sought.

offset

A carbon offset is any project or initiative that indirectly reduces GHG emissions at one source by investing in GHG emissions reductions elsewhere - effectively mitigating GHG emissions. Intrepid will ensure that the offsets purchased are:

• cost effective
• have accreditation according to a recognised standard
• offered by an offset provider who is independently verified
• able to offer co-benefits as well as carbon offsetting (preferred but not essential)

Offsets will be reviewed annually and information regarding the rigour in the science and methodologies as well as the providers behind offset products will need to be monitored. This plan should see Intrepid manage our carbon emissions and minimise our negative impact on the environment.