The two toolkits, covering carbon as well as office reduction and mitigation, were launched during the association’s climate crisis webinar on Thursday (20 May).
They both feature a range of practical tips and resources to help members towards Aito’s aim of achieving “net zero emissions” across the organisation’s membership of operators and agents.
Prue Stone, Aito’s sustainable tourism chair, said: “We know the climate crisis will affect us all in one way or another. We need to make sure there are significant changes to our operations, as well as more subtle changes.
“It can be a daunting challenge, that’s why we wanted to launch free toolkits which are designed to give clear guidance on topics – you can see if it’s relevant to your company.
“They identify areas that need change and there is signposting to specialists who can help.”
Stone added they wanted to create “one guiding document” on carbon looking at how to measure emissions and what can be done practically to reduce them.
The toolkits also include “bite-size” suggestions of changes that can be made in members’ offices to reduce emissions, as well as “lifestyle” changes at home.
The webinar heard from a series of experts who emphasised that there was “no quick fix” to the climate crisis. But there were measures that companies could take to reduce emissions for their operations.
Charlie Cotton, from carbon calculating specialist ecollective, stressed the importance of reducing the “environment impact” of trips.
“If we don’t do anything, we’re going to be in big trouble,” he said. “Everything you do has got a carbon footprint.”
Cotton suggested travel firms should measure the carbon footprint of all suppliers and use this data to switch to hotels with lower emissions.
“There are no perfect answers or a perfect system but there’s enough data and solutions out there to get started and start making an impact,” he added.
Hugo Kimber, founder of Carbon Responsible, explained how collecting data regularly was essential to successfully reducing emissions, as well as being transparent about these emissions.
“Try to produce a report saying what the annual impact of running your business is,” he urged. “What are the emissions from delivering the holiday? People want to know what the impact is, so they can make choices for themselves.”
While Samuel Welsh, from ClimateCare, explained how carbon offsetting projects, such as supporting renewable energy or rainforest protection schemes, were “not a silver bullet” and were just part of the solution to help reduce the impact of climate change from travel.
