• New research shows that the travel industry is not meeting consumer's expectations on sustainability

• Over half (53%) of UK adults would prefer to pay to protect the environment than for current add-on fees such as priority boarding or seat selection, which are responsible for generating £81 billion globally.[1]

• Explore Worldwide offer travellers the opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of their travel and purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

• Call for travel industry to catch up on the journey towards reducing carbon emissions ahead of COP29

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / July 19, 2024 / With just weeks to go until the 100-day countdown to COP29 begins, Explore Worldwide, owned by Hotelplan Group, announced it is the first adventure tour operator to offer customers the opportunity to buy sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) alongside their holiday.

This comes as new research shows that whilst people's understanding of SAF and their environmental benefits is low (58% said they do not understand how a biofuel works), demand for sustainable solutions is high. The key findings include:

• 50% want to reduce the environmental impact of their travel[2]

• 51% think the industry and consumers should both contribute financially to minimise the environmental impact of travel[3]

• 45% agree the travel industry needs to develop aviation fuels that reduce carbon emissions

Additionally, over half (53%) would rather see their money go towards protecting the planet than paying for priority boarding or a seat with extra leg room. A further 36% say they would be willing to pay more for sustainable travel, and 30% would pay between £11-£50 per flight to support sustainability initiatives.

In light of this, Explore Worldwide is calling on the travel industry to get behind potential solutions of the climate crisis. SAF is one of the latest technologies that shows promise, but it will require backing from the travel sector, as well as substantial investment to make an impact.

It was recently revealed that airlines make £81 billion globally on "ancillary" services.[4] This includes optional extras like lounge access, priority boarding, hold baggage and paid seats. Explore are urging airlines and the broader travel industry to make solutions to climate change more accessible to consumers - "it should be as easy to buy SAF as booking hold luggage or pre-selecting your seat."

Explore Worldwide will be offering travellers the opportunity to purchase SAF in quantities of £20, which covers enough SAF to reduce CO2e emissions by 42kg. That's the equivalent of driving the average car just over 96 miles[5] (155.4km) - the distance from London to Bath.[6] Regardless of having booked a holiday with Explore, people will be able to purchase SAF by completing the form via explore.co.uk/SAF.

Michael Edwards, Managing Director of Explore Worldwide, said "Fundamentally, there is no silver bullet for the climate crisis. But there are potential technologies and solutions, like SAF and carbon removal schemes, that cannot be developed and tested without funding.

SAF is more expensive than traditional jet fuel[7]. The complexity around pricing and support mechanisms are not well established, and processes required to scale it not publicly disclosed. But the industry - and indeed all industry - needs to support SAF in order to boost demand, production and drive down costs, and give it a fighting chance to be a solution to tackle climate change.

We're living in a world where consumers are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious, but it's not currently easy for them to connect with SAF and other new technology. The technology exists, but consumers aren't empowered to get behind it currently. It should be as easy to buy SAF as booking hold luggage. That is the kind of change we want to see across the industry.

As part of Explore Worldwide's sustainability strategy, we're committed to funding solutions of the future, and we believe that Sustainable Aviation Fuel could be one of these solutions. We want to try new things, find out what works best for us and our customers - increase conversation, find out what demand is there. The only way we can make a difference is by jumping in feet first. Change happens one step at a time - the only way we can prove this is by taking that first step."

The new scheme is part of Hotelplan Group's broader commitment to support the development of SAF, by driving demand and helping to make them more accessible to the broader travel industry. The research shows that there is clear public demand for this type of effort, with 65% agreeing the travel industry needs to work collaboratively to tackle climate change.

As well as its commitment to investing in SAF, Explore Worldwide supports leading carbon removal technologies (instead of carbon offsetting) through its partnership with Klimate. The operator donates a sum from every booking to support verifiable carbon removal projects, from soil sequestration to Direct Air Capture.

SAF can reduce CO2 emissions by 80% over its lifecycle compared to traditional jet fuel. However, SAF only accounts for approximately 0.1% [8] of all jet fuel used worldwide - a figure that has remained largely the same for the last four years.

Despite the need to adopt new fuel solutions in order to meet environmental targets (10% SAF target is a legal requirement of the Paris Agreement on climate change) uptake is still slow.

In April 2024, the Conservative government introduced a new mandate, including a requirement for 2% SAF usage by 2025, increasing annually to 10% by 2030. Whilst it is currently unclear if the new Labour administration plans to add further incentives or deterrents to the existing mandate for fuel suppliers, a government-backed revenue certainty would help to bring big investment to the sector and encourage companies to get behind climate solutions.

Explore Worldwide is amongst the first travel businesses to get the wheels in motion and is urging the travel sector to put protecting the planet alongside profits to develop the solutions that could help build a more sustainable future for travel.

Explore Worldwide's Sustainability Specialist Hannah Methven commented, "Reducing carbon continues to be the backbone of our sustainability strategy, and our absolute priority, but alongside that we're committed to mitigating what we're unable to take out and investing in the technologies of the future, which might just hold the key to a greener and more sustainable future. We're funding carbon removal projects with Klimate and have chosen to purchase SAF from Neste, the leading producer of SAFs and a company deeply committed to sustainable practices."

ENDS-

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[1] https://corporate.cartrawler.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/The-CarTrawler-Worldwide-Estimate-of-Ancillary-Revenue-2022.pdf
[2] ‘Strongly agree' and ‘Somewhat agree' responses combined
[3] Ibid ref 2
[4] Ibid ref 1.
[5] https://cogo.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/8016117711641-What-is-1kg-of-CO2-equal-to
[6] https://www.thetrainline.com/train-times/london-to-bath-spa
[7] Sumit Singh, Gaurav Joshi & Alexander Mitchell - Simple Flying, May 2024 https://simpleflying.com/saf-cost-competitive-jet-fuel/
[8] World Economic Forum "Clean Skies for Tomorrow Sustainable Aviation Fuels as a Pathway to Net-Zero Aviation" Insight Report November 2020. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Clean_Skies_Tomorrow_SAF_Analytics_2020.pdf

SOURCE: Explore Worldwide