Our Climate Action Plan
TTG Media’s purpose is to champion a Smarter, Better, Fairer travel industry, and we feel passionately that travel and tourism - done right - can be a powerful force for good.
But we also acknowledge that the planet is in the midst of a climate and biodiversity crisis, and that we as a travel media brand must play our part in reducing carbon emissions. In April 2022, TTG Media joined hundreds of travel and tourism businesses across the world in signing the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, and have worked with our partners TerraVerde Sustainability to create our Climate Action Plan, aligning with four pillars set out in the declaration. We’re now on a journey to halving our carbon emissions by 2030, and being Net Zero by 2050.
1 MEASURE
You can’t reduce what you don’t measure. Since last April we have been measuring the carbon footprint of our business, using 2019 as a baseline year.
We separated our business into two units: firstly ‘Business Operations’ (including paper, printing and distribution, our staff travel, and our office premises) to be measured on TerraVerde’s platform (which conforms to GHG Protocol Corporate) and reported in tonnes of CO2 equivalent per £million of turnover (tCO2e/£m). Business operations make up around four-fifths of our total footprint. For 2019, this figure was 197 tCO2e per £m turnover.
And secondly ‘Events’ (including awards, conferences and training events) to be measured on the specialist events platform, Trace, and reported in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per delegate (kgCO2e/delegate). Gathering historic data for certain 2019 events, including some venues no longer in operation, proved very challenging. We have therefore made a best estimate for 2019, based on running slightly more in-person events in 2019 than in 2022. The figure for 2019 was 48kgCO2e/delegate.
2 REDUCE
BUSINESS OPERATIONS
In 2022, we reduced by 19.5% vs 2019, down to 159 tCO2e/£m, through:
- Switching from a weekly print magazine to monthly, and a reduced print circulation in response to market changes
- Switching from biodegradable polywrap to paper wrappers
- Moving to much more sustainable office premises and a smaller floor-space due to hybrid-working
Our goal for 2030 is 36 tCO2e/£m, which will represent an 82% reduction vs 2019. Goals for 2023 include:
- Looking more closely at the team’s energy providers at home
- More precisely understanding our digital carbon footprint
- Working with our office landlord to further reduce energy and water usage
Our targets:
| 2019 | 2022 | 2030 |
| 197t | 159t | 36t |
EVENTS
In 2022, the carbon footprint of our events reduced by 11% compared to 2019, to 42kgCO2e/delegate, through:
- Choosing venues more carefully based upon their sustainability credentials
- Reducing print products such as programmes, menus and signage
- Serving less carbon-intensive menus (fish or chicken instead of beef or lamb) at many events
Our goal for 2030 is 34kgCO2e/delegate, which will represent a 29.1% reduction vs 2019. Goals for 2023 include:
- Serving even less carbon-intensive menus, and more vegan options
- Incentivising event delegates to travel by public transport
- Working with venues to weigh waste more precisely
Our targets:
| 2019 | 2022 | 2027 | 2030 |
| 48kg | 42kg | 38kg |
34kg |
3 MITIGATE
Carbon offsetting must never be in place of carbon reduction, and can be a dangerous distraction from the reductions that are required.
We also know carbon emissions are just one part of the Earth’s environmental crisis, alongside biodiversity loss, land system change, ocean acidification and much more.
We are now in the process of choosing a reliable and efficient offsetting carbon mitigation project, through which to offset our 2022 emissions, while supporting one or more of these other, critical issues.
4 COLLABORATE & CAMPAIGN
As a media organisation, and not a supplier of travel, TTG Media’s contribution to the travel and tourism sector’s carbon footprint is small.
But our ability to influence and unify our travel industry community into taking action on climate change is considerable.
We are committed to sharing our own progress on carbon reduction to inspire others on why and how they should join us on the journey, and to driving change through initiatives such as TTG Fairer Travel Week and TTG’s Sustainable Travel Heroes.
Look out for more on the positive impact we have made as a business in our forthcoming Impact Report.
Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
