Travel is about being responsible and choosing to respect and enjoy local cultures, nature, wildlife, and their environment. Travel Department as a company recognise that travel, particularly by plane, has a negative impact on green house emissions. We recognise that we have the responsibility to reduce our impact where we can.
There are many positives of group travel including the fact that by travelling by coach we are reducing the number of cars used for individual travel. While that’s a real advantage and of course, travelling with a group is a wonderful way to meet like minded people, we recognise that we are still generating carbon emissions.
To mitigate the impact we have, what we at Travel Department can do is strive to give back as much as we can to the local communities we work with, encourage our staff to practise sustainability and give our customers the best possible experience while having as little negative impact as possible.
As a company we are off-setting our office carbon emissions every year and are actively working to reduce our environmental impact. You can see more information on this in our Sustainability Plan.
From 2024, all of our tours will have the option for our customers to also make their own contribution. We have partnered with companies who fund fully certified carbon off-setting projects. 100% of the contributions made to us at Travel Department for carbon off-setting will go directly towards a number of their projects. Examples of these projects and the impacts they make can be seen below, but there are many projects around the world which will benefit from your contributions:
Clean Water in Cambodia
Untreated water and poor sanitation cause an estimated 10,000 deaths each year, mostly in children. With a filter in their homes, families can drink safely. By no longer needing to boil water, indoor air pollution from wood burning is reduced, household fuel costs are slashed and Cambodia’s vulnerable forests are protected.
This project creates rural employment opportunities. Women make up 47% of Hydrologic’s staff, including 60% of top-level managers and 60% of the rural sales force.
Key impacts per year of project operation
- 90,000tonnes of CO2e saved per year (equivalent to taking 36,000 cars off the road)
- 300,000+Filters distributed providing clean water to nearly two million Cambodians
- 74%of those who previously boiled water report less exposure to smoke
Renewable Energy in Brazil
This initiative tackles one of the major causes of deforestation in Brazil: illegal logging. The Ceará project has switched the fuel used by five ceramic factories from illegal firewood to agricultural and industrial residues. This biomass would have otherwise been discarded as waste, so the fuel switch not only transforms residues into something useful but also enables many local individuals to make a living - or complement their income – by supplying biomass waste directly to the factories.
The project also receives wastewater from a local company to be used in its production process, therefore protecting natural resources by reducing water pollution discharges and the need for water to be removed from natural habit, which is a significant step for a region afflicted by severe droughts.
Project impacts and benefits:
- Biodiversity conservation: partnership with the city to provide native seedlings planting;
- Generation of income to local communities - so far USD 4,500,000;
- Improved working conditions to employees (219 employees);
- Increase of water availability to the community (the region is afflicted by severe droughts);
- Avoidance of deforestation - 1,750 ha of forest savedin the course of 10 years, the equivalent to 1,400 soccer pitches;
- Avoidance of GHG emissions – 36,173t of CO2e avoided per year.
Solar Energy in India
Juniper Green Sigma Pvt. Ltd. has setup a Solar power project in the state of Gujarat, India. The project will replace greenhouse gases estimated to be approximately 275,000 tCO2e per annum
Project Impacts and Benefits
Along with the use of solar energy, the company have also provided solar enabled water purification devices in various schools in the area of the site. Geographically, the ground water supply in the region has a very high quantity of TDS causing acute and chronic health ailments among the students causing discontinuity and high absenteeism.
The Company has installed water purifiers along with storage tanks and water dispensers to local schools to give all children access to clean water. Juniper Green Sigma is determined to concentrate on improving the water security in the communities its works.
Thank you for helping us to make Sustainable Travel possible.
