Sea Going Green's Climate Emergency Action Plan for 2023
Photo by Faith Crabtree
Back in March 2020, Sea Going Green declared a climate emergency. Little did we know just how much the industry would change in the coming years as tourism adapted to the “new normal”. Now in 2023, we wanted to take a look back at our action plan and set new goals and ambitions for this upcoming year.
Our initial Climate Emergency Action Plan outlined our commitment to lowering our clients and our own office’s CO2 emissions in the hope of setting an example and inspire our partners, tourism stakeholders and followers to join the Tourism Declares community.
In our action plan, we aimed to:
For our clients:
Aim to calculate 100% of our clients CO2 emissions, and offset 100% amount of CO2 within 2 years of baseline measurements
Reduce the use of single use plastics by 50% within 2 years of baseline measurements and by 100% in areas where there is a plastic ban
Switch 50% of diesel to biofuels
Conserve 50% amount of water
In our own operations:
reduce, reuse, recycle;
prevent food waste;
no single use plastics in our office;
allocate at least one day per week as meat-free;
go paperless;
use public transport and/or cycle to the office;
encourage our staff and peers to cycle or use public transport to get to/from the office
work remotely one working day per month out of respect for our environment;
choose the most environmentally-friendly means of travel outside of office hours, if possible
calculate our employees CO2 emissions from business trips and pledge to reduce them yearly (we’ve already reduced the amount of flights taken by 50% in the last year!)
do cleanups in our communities to spread awareness about pollution
Let’s see how we did:
Since 2020, Sea Going Green has:
For our clients:
Calculated 100% of our private sector client’s (Boat Bike Tours’) footprint and helped them reach carbon neutrality in 2022
Reduced their (Boat Bike Tours) usage of single use plastics to an absolute minimum
Facilitated negotiations (ongoing) to incorporate green energy sources into operations for a river cruise operator (Boat Bike Tours)
Developed tourism activities and services for clients that prioritize low-carbon options
Helped a Small Island Developing State in the Caribbean (The Bahamas) select climate-resilient tourism certification schemes
Advocated for low-carbon transport options, a zero waste approach, circular practices and eco-friendly activities for a client developing an ecotourism resort in Saudi Arabia (Project Palm)
Conducted a 10 session workshop series to empower community leaders from Bonaire to take grassroots action in their communities to solve their biggest sustainability challenges including climate change-related issues
Created a toolkit to help community members to engage other community members and restore their local ecosystem (and combat climate change) in the name of the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration
Facilitated discussions around best practices and methods of targeting climate change and carbon emissions amongst industry leaders in the tourism and hospitality industries in webinars and at speaking engagements
Developed and delivered a series of climate-change specific training modules on the environmental impacts and carbon footprints of the tourism industry, supported by mentorship sessions (SUSTOUR)
Cataloged a series of forest-based tourism activities that promote eco-friendly tourism services and activities in Georgia
Developed a geotourism strategy for the Federated States of Micronesia which highlights the importance of climate change mitigation and adaptation methods
Analyzed the climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and gaps for selected destinations in the Caribbean
Led cleanups in every corner of the globe
In our own operations:
Worked fully remote during the pandemic and now are hybrid
Visited destinations as digital nomads, choosing to stay in destinations for 3 weeks or longer, embracing slow tourism
Refrained from using single use plastics
Went fully digital in the place of printed materials
Team dinners were held at vegan and/or vegetarian establishments
Used public transport or bicycle for office travel/client meetings
Chose to conduct online meetings in the place of in person meetings if a flight was required (with the exception of fieldwork- which has been minimized)
All in all, our team met the goals that we set out to achieve and then some! We will continue building onto the goals that we’ve set and the achievements that we’ve made. We look forward to reporting next year with more ambitious outcomes and projects that aim to push the boundaries of climate action.
Sea Going Green is a sustainable tourism consultancy with a mission to alleviate the negative impacts that tourism is having on the environment. From carbon emissions to pollution to overconsumption, without sustainably managing these impacts, the tourism industry is causing harm, but it doesn’t have to.