Intrepid Travel chief executive James Thornton told the Abta Travel Convention in Morocco signing up for science-based targets seeking to reduce carbon emissions was the only way to "future-proof growth".

According to Thornton, of the 3,547 private companies that have so far committed to reducing carbon emissions through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), only 72 were tourism and hospitality business. And of those, only 29 have had their targets approved.

“Where is everyone else?” asked Thornton. “Travel cannot address climate change by talking about how important it is – we need to take real action. Unfortunately, otherwise, it’s just greenwashing. Science-based targets are where we need to start.

“Being carbon neutral was market leading in 2010, but now it’s not good enough – we all need to shift urgently on rapid decarbonisation.”

Citing Intrepid’s incident report in September, Thornton said the travel industry had seen flash floods, earthquakes, hurricane, typhoon, volcanic eruptions and storms as a result of climate change in September alone.

“Travel and tourism is in the front seat of the climate disaster – what we do now will ultimately shape all of our futures,” declared Thornton.

“The really good news is that there is still hope because the travel industry can still take meaningful collective decarbonisation action. We’ve got the knowledge, the tools and increasingly the innovations. The next eight years to 2030 are critical.”

Thornton added 80% of a typical tour operator’s emissions were generated in their supply chain, and it was essential that all travel companies worked with their suppliers to reduce overall emissions.

A 10-step guide to decarbonising your travel business is available from the Intrepid website.