sustainable travel initiatives

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In Europe, where many trains are electric, the emissions from rail travel can be as much as 10 times less than flying.

How to travel better: a beginner's guide to sustainable travel in 2023 and beyond

Sustainable, green, responsible — planet-friendly ways to explore the world are more popular than ever but how do you start to make better decisions when you travel? The first step is to understand what sustainable travel is and why it’s important.

What’s sustainable travel? Sustainable travel is about travelling in a way that’s sensitive to the climate and nature emergencies while ensuring that the wellbeing of the places we visit gain long-term benefit from us travelling there. It’s a balancing act between maximising the positives of travel while reducing or eliminating the negatives.

What’s happening and why? The concentration of carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere is well over 400 parts per million higher than at any time in at least 800,000 years — and it’s still increasing, causing global temperatures to rise. The consensus is that a rise of just 1.5C will cause dangerous warming of the planet. The stability of our world’s climate hinges on whether we can keep this small rise in global temperatures in check and time’s running out. This is the decade that counts.

How does this impact the natural world? Commensurate with the climate crisis is the nature emergency: worldwide, 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction due to the intensification of agriculture and forestry, resource extraction, hunting, invasive species, urban sprawl, pollution and climate change. Yet, this is not just about the disappearance of remote rainforests or polar bears at the extremities of the planet – habitat and biodiversity loss are happening on a colossal scale in the UK, to our hedgerows and forests, our garden birds, and the fish in our seas.

What can you do about it? Being a sustainable traveller is not about making grand, one-off gestures, it’s a state of mind, an ongoing attitude to conscious adventure that influences all aspects of how we holiday, including what we pack in our luggage and how we travel out to destinations, as well as the choice of hotels and activities we take part in while we’re there.

The nature emergency, which is commensurate with the climate crisis, affects us all.

How do I even get started? To begin with, consider packing less: travelling lighter will reduce the chances of having to dispose of items; it makes it much easier to travel around, especially on foot, by bike or on public transport; and it’s more fuel efficient — especially noticeable if you’re travelling in an electric car. A useful device for packing economically is to consider the three Rs: Reduce: What can I get away with not taking; are there items that can double up for several uses? Reuse: What can I take that I can reuse over and over again? Recycle: What can I take that can be recycled once I’ve finished using it? Try to avoid taking single-use plastic, such as bottles, bags and straws, which break down over time into tiny microplastics that enter the food chain when they’re consumed by marine wildlife and ultimately cause serious health issues for humans. Instead, pack a refillable water bottle, coffee cup, Tupperware containers for food and toiletries, and a shopping bag — it’ll be handy not just as a replacement for buying a plastic bag at a supermarket, but also when you’re out buying food and groceries at a local market.

What’s the most important change that I can make? The single more significant way to reduce the carbon emissions of travelling is to tackle the transport portion, which is often responsible for at least 70% of the carbon emissions of a holiday. The most effective way to do this is to reduce the distance travelled and to travel in a way that burns less or, even better, no fossil fuels, using more sustainable modes of transport; or by not travelling in a vehicle at all, choosing instead to travel on foot, by bike or under sail. There’s a steep difference in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by aeroplanes compared with most land-based vehicles. There are concerted efforts to decarbonise air travel using alternative fuels and methods of propulsion (such as via electricity and hydrogen), but even the most optimistic predictions support that this change is at least a decade away for most airlines. For the time being, the emissions from just one long-haul flight can be more than those caused by someone driving a standard petrol car for a whole year. Taking the train within the UK emits about six times less than flying and taking the bus emits about nine times less. In Europe, where many trains (including Eurostar) are electric, the emissions from rail travel can be as much as 10 times less than flying.

And what if I do need to fly? If you do fly, bear in mind that there’s quite a large disparity between the carbon emissions of aircraft and the operating procedures of airlines, so do use online tools such as the ‘Greener Choices’ label on the search results provided by the flight search engine skyscanner.net , which flags up those flights that have less than average emissions.

While flying continues to be such a large polluter, consider adopting a more selective approach to flying: just as with the flexitarian approach to food where you eat a mainly plant-based diet and only occasionally eat lean meat and sustainably sourced fish, a similar attitude to flying could be that you mainly travel overland and only occasionally fly, staying for longer, and making the most of the flight by choosing a positive-impact holiday that benefits nature conservation and/or genuinely benefits the wellbeing of local communities.

Travelling lighter makes it much easier to travel around, especially on foot or by bike.

What does my carbon impact look like once I get to a destination? There are other factors that will affect your carbon emissions when you’re at the destination, including your choice of hotel and the food you eat. The average carbon footprint of a night in a typical hotel in the UK is about 31.1kg CO2, according to the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative, so choosing a hotel that has lower than average carbon emissions can make a significant difference to your holiday’s footprint. Thankfully it’s becoming easier to find green accommodation — keep an eye out for the green filters on specialist accommodation booking sites, such as Airbnb’s ‘off-the-grid’, Sawday’s 'Sustainable stars' and i-escape's 'eco rating', there are several online agencies that specialise in green accommodation, such as fairbnb.coop and myecostay.eu , and even the big online agencies, such as Booking.com , TripAdvisor and Google , now flag up eco-certified hotels in their search results. Many of these eco-certified accommodations do much more than reducing their carbon emissions, they’ll also reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill and reduce the use of chemicals and the amount of water they use.

Feasting on local, seasonal food washed down with the local tipple conveys a sense of place better than any travel brochure. It’s also much better for the environment as there are significant emissions of carbon arising from the ‘food miles’ associated with transporting food great distances. Whether it’s freshly baked bread for breakfast, salad from the local market for lunch, or the catch of the day at the nearby restaurant, choosing local isn’t just good for the planet, it’s also healthier and a great way to put money into the local community.

Where to go Some of the most colourful cities in Europe are a great choice for a green break, such as Bristol, Angers, Nantes, Zurich, Ljubljana and Copenhagen. Here, pragmatic local authorities are implementing the circular economy to create sustainable transport, housing and economic development policies that are accelerating their transition to net zero, which has the knock-on effect of improving the experience for sustainable travellers. For example, regenerative wetlands and connected green spaces help manage storm water, air quality and improve biodiversity, but also provide wonderful green sanctuaries that are great for appreciating urban nature or for just chilling out in parks and gardens across urban villages.

Choosing to travel by bike is one of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

And how to get around? Countries that have a modern, high-speed rail infrastructure make it easy to travel with a lower carbon footprint. Switzerland has an extensive public transport network across the country (the Swiss Travel Pass provides free admission to 500 museums as well as unlimited travel on trains, bus, boat and public transport in cities), while France, Spain, Italy and Germany have impressive high-speed rail networks, particularly between major cities.

What about long haul? Further afield, some countries have made concerted efforts to include tourism in their sustainable development goals. Following decades of tree clearing for agriculture and livestock production, in the 1980s the Costa Rican government implemented policies that have halted and reversed this deforestation. Today, over half of Costa Rica’s land is covered by forest, compared to just 26% in 1983, allowing it to make the most of the biodiversity in its rainforests and pioneer the concept of ecotourism, developing small-scale, high-end eco lodges that have contributed to the conservation of its rainforests. Guyana, too, is developing community-based ecotourism to fund the protection of its rainforests. Lodges such as Iwokrama River Lodge , Rewa Eco-Lodge and Surama Eco-Lodge enable visitors to enjoy the country’s incredible biodiversity, while contributing to its conservation and to the livelihoods of remote communities.

Where can I look for more information? Richard Hammond is a sustainable travel expert and founder of Green Traveller and the author of The Green Traveller: Conscious Adventure That Doesn’t Cost the Earth (£18.99, Pavilion).

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4 Sustainable Travel Innovations Shaping the Future of the Tourism Industry

By Jonny Bierman

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Presented by Hurtigruten Expeditions.

When it comes to sustainable ways to move through the world , big changes are happening in the travel industry. Nearly every sector of tourism, including cruise lines, luxury resorts, airlines, and the destinations themselves are turning to innovative solutions that cut carbon emissions and consider the environment first.

But it's not just carbon output that's top of mind: The tourism industry is investing in people and the planet, including working to protect and restore ecosystems, and supporting the well-being of local communities , which has far-reaching positive socioeconomic impacts.

Here are four sustainable travel innovations happening right now that travelers can get involved in—and should expect to see more of in coming years.

Misool Resort in Raja Ampat, Indonesia has created a marine protected area

Resorts are shoring up fragile ocean ecosystems for both visitors and locals

Around the world, luxury resorts that offer travelers a chance to commune with nature are stepping up to protect their local habitats. Oceanfront resorts have especially taken up the charge by collaborating with local populations to create marine reserves near their properties for all to enjoy. Among the best-in-class ocean conservation programs run by resorts is the barefoot luxury island destination Misool Resort in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. The founders created a marine protected area in the waters surrounding the hotel that now spans 300,000 acres and has rewilded one of the most biodiverse reefs on Earth. In Tanzania, the Manta Resort on Pemba Island created its own marine protected areas that have seen unprecedented returns to biodiversity and wildlife recovery among its reefs. This not only fuels unparalleled scuba diving and snorkeling experiences, but there’s also the “spillover effect"—a term used to describe healthy fish populations spilling outside of protected areas, which benefits local fishermen whose livelihood depends on a healthy ecosystem. In Belize , the largest marine protected area, the Turneff Atoll Marine Reserve , is a product of the hard work of Turneff Flats Resort and their dedication to conservation.

The more resorts that help to protect the waters around them, the closer the industry comes to meeting ambitious benchmarks set by advocacy groups. The Professional Association of Diving Instructors, for one, has challenged sectors of the travel industry centered on scuba diving to help conserve 10,000 ocean sites by 2025 , while the UN has set a goal to classify 30 percent of the world’s ocean space a marine protected area by 2030.

Aviation fuels are becoming carbon negative

A handful of international airlines are leading the charge to slash their planes' carbon output and make flying more sustainable . Turkish Airlines recently took a huge stride with its new carbon-negative jet fuel. The airline is developing a synthetic bio-kerosene fuel derived from microalgae plants, which eliminates the environmental concerns surrounding crop-based biofuels, such as water use and competition for farmland. To ensure the entire process has a net-negative carbon output, the facility where the biofuel is produced will use carbon capture technology, which extracts carbon from the atmosphere and permanently stores it underground.

Similarly, Air New Zealand’s net zero Flight NZ0 initiative and United Airlines' goal to reduce emissions by 100 percent by 2050 are making headlines through action items like electrifying fleets and also investing in biofuel and carbon capture. And on the subject of carbon capture technology: Programs like Tomorrow’s Air help climate-conscious travelers directly support carbon capture initiatives as a more effective version of offsetting their trip's emissions. The group partners with organizations like ClimeWorks, which permanently stores recaptured carbon in Iceland’s basalt rock.

Hurtigruten Expeditions' MS Roald Amundsen is the world's first battery hybrid-powered cruise ship.

Cruise lines are setting a new standard

Norway-based Hurtigruten Group has a mission to be the global leader in sustainable cruising and to set the new industry standard for voyages that are gentle on the environment. Hurtigruten Expeditions, the brand's adventure line, has already achieved this in many ways. In 2019, it launched the world’s first battery hybrid-powered cruise ship—the MS Roald Amundsen . The ship's electrical propulsion capabilities, combined with innovative hull design, cut carbon emissions by 20 percent. That saves 3,000 metric tons of carbon per year.

In 2023, the line has undertaken a 100-million-euro green upgrade , which will see historic sustainable changes to its fleet. Hurtigruten is converting three more of its ships to be hybrid-battery expedition ships: the MS Richard With, the MS Kong Harald, and the MS Nordlys will all be refitted with new main engines and battery packs to slash carbon output by 25 percent. Additionally, on its Coastal Express ships—which are famous for exploring Norway’s Fjords—Hurtigruten is adding selective catalytic reduction systems to cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 percent.

The recent hiring of the cruise industry’s only on-staff Chief Scientist combined with the Hurtigruten Foundation ’s commitment to preserving endangered wildlife, battling plastic waste and marine litter, and supporting communities in the areas they operate ensures their regenerative impact goes beyond technological innovations.

Tourists are committing to protect the places they explore

A growing list of destinations are finding their own ways to answer the call to sustainability action. At home in the United States, Breckenridge, Colorado’s award-winning B Like Breck program promotes low-impact and sustainable travel initiatives that engage the community and visitors to both better the environment and enhance visitor-resident sentiment. Pledge programs and visitor education are also trending. Launched in early April 2023, the new Kanu Pledge in Hawai’i asks tourists to make a commitment to protect the islands on their trip—then challenges them to make good on that promise by joining local volunteer opportunities. The San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State have a Love it Like a Local pledge, in which tourists vow to explore the islands responsibly by taking small but meaningful actions like not feeding wildlife and conserving water when possible. Sedona’s Sedona Cares pledge helps tourists take an active role in protecting and preserving red rock country by having them agree to be careful with fire, not carve the rocks, and promise to respect the natural quiet of the spaces where they explore.

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