Advancing Climate Action in Tourism: Sea Going Green’s 2024 Progress Report

Sep 12

Sea Going Green first declared a climate emergency in March 2020 in the days preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. As a followup to our initial emergency declaration and action plan, our 2023 report captured the changes in tourism patterns and preferences that occurred during and in the days leading up to the end of lockdowns, QR codes and the other pandemic measures.

The 2024 edition of our Progress Report details the steps that were taken to make an impact in an industry that has now met and surpassed expectations for tourism growth. In the spirit of this, our report underlines the environmental impact that we’ve made in the past year through our work with clients in the public and private sectors, particularly in Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, the Mediterranean and Caribbean regions and the wider international tourism industry.

Before diving into the climate progress that we achieved from 2023-2024, let’s look back at our impact over 2020-2023.

Sea Going Green supported clients to achieve the following objectives:

Developed tourism activities and services for clients that prioritize low-carbon options
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
Calculated 100% of our private sector client’s (Boat Bike Tours’) footprint and helped them reach carbon neutrality in 2022. We also reduced their usage of single use plastics to an absolute minimum and facilitated negotiations to incorporate green energy sources into operations for a river cruise operator (Boat Bike Tours)
Helped a Small Island Developing State in the Caribbean (The Bahamas) select climate-resilient tourism certification schemes (Inter-American Development Bank)
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
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 (WWF-NL)
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 (IUCN)
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 for the Shuamta Gateway in Georgia (USAID)
Developed a geotourism strategy for the Federated States of Micronesia which highlights the importance of climate change mitigation and adaptation methods (Waitt Institute)
Analyzed the climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and gaps for selected destinations in the Caribbean (Inter-American Development Bank)
Led cleanups in every corner of the globe!

For our own operations, we:

Worked fully remote during the pandemic and remained either hybrid or fully remote
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)

Between May 2023 and September 2024, Sea Going Green continued helping clients reduce their environmental impacts including through steps to mitigate carbon emissions. In doing so, our work supported the inclusion of green technologies, recommended eco-friendly transportation options, advocated for local supply chains and provided strategies to reduce seasonality in tourism-dependent destinations.

These actions, among those listed below, aimed to equip destinations, tourism businesses and individuals with a passion for sustainability with the tools to lower their environmental footprint and spread the word to their peers and following in the hopes of generating a wider impact.

For our clients, Sea Going Green:

Developed a tourism roadmap for luxury marine tourism for the island of Sri Lanka including strategies that incorporated climate-friendly boating and yachting infrastructure and green energy and fuel sources on top of methods for waste reduction and management, environmental protection and community integration to raise the standard for tourism competitiveness. (Asian Development Bank)
Created the “Sustain Sharjah” platform to communicate the efforts that the emirate of Sharjah is making to enhance the sustainability of their tourism industry. This included the launching of a website showcasing the different elements of sustainable tourism in the destination’s activities, accommodations and experiences. Other website features included a carbon calculator for visitors, residents and businesses to help calculate the emissions of travel to and at the destination followed by recommendations for offsetting programs and sustainable options to lower the environmental impact of their stay.
Led in the “Coordination, Communication, Exploitation, and Dissemination” for the EU-funded C-FAARER project to support the development of a stakeholder-co-designed roadmap and guidance aimed at assisting ocean farmers in the Atlantic and Arctic Sea basins to create community-driven business models for regenerative ocean farming.
Conducted a sustainability diagnostic for a luxury wellness resort located in Loreto, Mexico, for the purpose of developing a baseline strategy that outlines the resort’s operational and service-level eco-friendly ambitions and aspirations.
Contributed to an analysis underlining how Caribbean countries are addressing the intersection between tourism and climate change through analysis of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Action Plans (NAPs) and other relevant national policies. The analysis identified gaps and needs to help inform strategies that improve climate-friendly measures in the target countries (Inter-American Development Bank)
Helped co-create a Plastic-Free Playbook (launching this Autumn) highlighting plastic free and sustainability solutions. (Six Senses)
Created and disseminated a questionnaire to a wide range of tourism stakeholders in the Mediterranean (European, Middle East and North African basins) to determine the level of climate action, extent of the inclusion of nature-based solutions and use of supporting tools and measures being used by the tourism industry to combat climate change. (Plan Bleu)
Reduced the carbon emissions for client Boat Bike Tours by increasing the length of tours, using less energy and relying on green energy sources, and improving the frequency of vegetarian and less carbon-intensive alternatives in food menus on top of other ongoing efforts. (Boat Bike Tours)

Within our own operations, we:

Moved from hybrid to primarily remote as our team is currently spread across the globe
Engaged in slow travel (for digital nomads on the team) spending longer amounts of time at the destination and prioritizing traveling overland or via short-haul flights
Used public transportation as a preferred mode of travel on top of cycling as a low impact travel method
Refrained from using single-use plastics in the office and in terms of personal use
Fully or partially integrated vegetarian and vegan options into office and personal consumption patterns
Partnered with sustainable retail brands including with MOYU (reusable stone notebooks) to reduce the team’s use of paper notebooks and general paper consumption. (Use the code SEAGOINGGREEN15 for a 15% discount on your purchase!)

What we pledge to continue working on to continue to reduce our footprint:

Eliminating carbon intensive transport (for business purposes) including long haul flights as much as possible by using online meetings in place of in person meetings wherever possible and leveraging local partners or consultants in proximity to meetings and events where in person attendance is necessary or beneficial
Continuing to be mindful of the team’s consumption patterns, waste output and management practices
Choosing sustainable tourism activities (i.e. booking local guides, visiting cultural heritage sites, taking part in cultural activities, perpetuating cross-cultural understanding)
Promoting sustainable living to our clients, partners, and audience using our social media channels, website and other methods of communications to enhance the uptake of climate actions

Sea Going Green pledges to continue striving to forward sustainability and climate action in the global tourism industry in addition to our work with clients and within our own business operations.

Want to know more about how we can make an impact for your business? Schedule a discovery call with our sustainable tourism experts to get started.