The walking holiday specialist, which is run as a co-operative and became B Corp Certified earlier this year, introduced carbon labelling on all holidays listed on its website earlier this summer to provide customers with “full transparency” about the impact of their holidays.
HF Holidays chief executive David Harrington told TTG: “We have received great feedback from our members who have been with us on this journey, and we’ve seen active engagement with our climate information pages on our website. We will keep collecting feedback from customers and agents through our regular survey.”
Harrington made highlighting the carbon footprint of its each of its holidays a priority for the operator shortly after it confirmed its B Corp certification, telling TTG at the time the process would “help customers make their own choice of what they wish to do”.
Carbon measurement has now become “embedded within our product-to-market process”, Harrington added. “All our holidays will be assessed and reviewed and the relevant information added to our website before they are made available to the public.
"Our product managers have received training on the methodology to not only evaluate their trips, but also to promote mindful decision-making throughout the product development process.”
Carbon measurement has been completed in partnership with consultancy ecollective, which has been working with HF Holidays to advise the operator on how to improve how it monitors its carbon footprint.
It is based on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by each guest’s travels, calculated as the carbon footprint for the average group size of an HF trip.
The measure includes emissions from accommodation, transport, activities, meals and staff activities, as well as any flights or rail travel from the UK if they are included as part of the trip. Flight emission information is based on data released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with the assumption of direct flights unless stated otherwise.
But Harrington stressed: “There is significant scientific uncertainty around the magnitude of the indirect effect of non-CO2 aviation emissions and is an active area of research.”
The operator said the average carbon footprint per person on an HF Holidays trip is equivalent to 180kg of emissions, a reduction of 11kg in the past 12 months. It has also converted to renewable energy across its estate of 16 owned and managed country houses in the UK, a saving of 113,000kg of carbon dioxide equivalent a year.
HF Holidays’ said its goal was to “reduce the carbon intensity of our product by 5% each year to become net zero by 2040 – earlier if we can”.
Next steps include a 50% reduction in waste and 50% increase in recycling before the start of next year, growing its range of Rail Adventures and range of transport options by rail, and trialling digital menus at its houses.
It has also committed to ongoing training for employees, working with food, beverage, linen and waste suppliers who demonstrate a commitment to net zero, and including carbon dioxide equivalent measurements on video, email and social media communications.
