South London agency Travel Matters has become the travel business to take up the Net Zero Challenge.
The agency has adopted the new digital platform designed to help businesses meet their sustainability targets.
Served via a website and app, the challenge promotes more than 30 carbon-saving activities spanning recycling, sustainable travel and commuting, saving energy, and developing skills and knowledge in, and across, a wide range of topics.
The Net Zero Challenge aims to motivate employees to reduce carbon emissions as a team and as an individual, with competitive elements built in to encourage friendly rivalries between businesses.
Employees are awarded green points for their efforts, with the top-performing teams and individuals winning vouchers and charity donations.
Travel Matters currently tops the leaderboard after completing nearly 1,500 positive actions in the past month, saving approximately 1,270kg of carbon emissions.
The agency is a supporter of the Future of Tourism coalition, and is a member of the Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency campaign.
Karen Simmonds, Travel Matters founder, said: “We accept we need to cut our global carbon emissions, and believe travel has a key role to play: we want to make travel matter. By using the Net Zero Challenge, we are – as a team – having a positive impact and reducing our carbon emissions.
"And by encouraging trade suppliers and our travel partners to make similar commitments, I am hopeful that the travel sector as a whole can respond to the need for urgent action and accelerate the transition towards a net zero carbon future."
The challenge is delivered by Jump, which has for the past 10 years been providing sustainability engagement programmes across private, public and education sector organisations.
Director Josh Cleall added: "The travel sector has a real window of opportunity to lead the charge as we transition to a ‘new normal’.
"We are delighted that Karen and her team at Travel Matters are the first in the travel sector to join the Net Zero Challenge, and I look forward to more travel companies getting involved as organisations accelerate their plans to make net zero a reality."
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