The new department will sit within Intrepid's existing purpose team, and will seek to accelerate the operator's decarbonisation roadmap.
Led by Dr Susanne Etti, who has been named general manager climate, it will oversee allocations from a new £1 million climate impact fund, set aside to support immediate, practical steps to reduce emissions across Intrepid's business and its supplier network.
Etti and her new team will also assume responsibility for carbon and risk reporting, and driving climate advocacy within Intrepid and the wider travel industry.
Intrepid is recruiting for a decarbonisation manager, and the climate department will also include a purpose carbon analyst and environmental analyst to support carbon reporting.
The changes follow Intrepid's recent decision to end its carbon offset programme and focus instead on investing directly in decarbonisation, with a view to reducing life-cycle carbon intensity and ultimately putting Intrepid on a lower-carbon footing.
Meegan Marshall, Intrepid's chief people and purpose officer, said Etti's experience and expertise in carbon reporting, combined with her environmental advocacy, had been "instrumental" in shaping Intrepid's climate strategy.
"We look forward to the leadership, insights and innovation she will bring to this new role as we continue to advance our climate ambitions."
Elsewhere, Intrepid has made changes to its impact division; Sara King will assume a newly renamed role of general manager impact overseeing Intrepid's environmental and social initiatives, as well as its B Corp certification, while B Corp impact manager Rochelle Turner becomes head of impact EMEA.
"I’m excited to lead the delivery of our impact strategy in the EMEA region and help further embed sustainability, decarbonisation, community and collaborative action into our trips and into all the ways we operate every day," said Turner.
Intrepid has also hired Elaine Learmonth to a newly created had of regional experiences role bringing extensive industry, DMC and product management experience after working in product development at Exodus Adventure Travels and as product and supplier leader at Flight Centre UK.
