Happy new year! 2023 marks the year of substantial change for Adventure Base when it comes to how we’re operating sustainably as a business and to kick things off, we’ve been crunching through the numbers and are coming ever closer to working out the true cost our scope 3 emissions have had on the climate.
Reduction Goals Update
Having got a good understanding of what our scope 1 & 2 emissions now look like, our focus has turned to how we’re going to reduce those emissions in 2023.
Below you can find a selection of our highest emitting activities as a business with some of the initial thoughts we have had around them. We will aim to finalise our reduction targets and give an update in the next newsletter. Our end goal is to embellish these into an Adventure Base charter, which we will encourage our employees to follow, helping to reduce our scope 1 & 2 emissions in line with our reduction ambitions.
Employee Overnight Hotel Stays:
This was one of our highest sources of emissions for scope one and for us, it’s a fairly easy fix to ensure we’re reducing this in the future due to the low volume of occasions whereby we need to use accommodation. Unfortunately by nature, accommodation in hotels is highly pollutive and produces a disproportionate amount of CHG. However the good news is that there are numerous sustainable accommodation providers within the areas we operate and it is therefore our responsibility to ensure we are using them where possible.
Purchasing of Merchandise & Equipment:
Alongside trips we also offer equipment hire for clients. Unfortunately this also comes with a high cost to the environment due to the fact that these products are produced on the other side of the world, with raw materials that are flown into the factories, which are then flown back out to the retailers, to then be transported to the end destination to us, the customer.
It’s within our power to change our purchasing habits and where possible, although there is often a high cost associated, search for locally manufactured replacements. This won’t be an easy task however we are located within an ideal location, the mecca of mountaineering, so there are numerous options for us to explore and implement going forward.
Energy procurement
Although as a business we use a relatively small amount of energy to power our office, this energy use is an emitter as well as the process that was used to create it in the first place, meaning it falls across both scope 1 and scope 2.
Switching to renewables will be a challenge due to the fact that our offices are located within a shared building, however in the longer term it is our ambition to try and influence the decision to switch over to a renewable source of energy. We will pair this alongside our existing efforts to reduce our consumption of energy within the office environment.
Next Steps
As mentioned previously we are aiming to have the true cost of our business operations calculated, including scope three, so keep your eyes peeled for some camembert themed Infographics!
Catch you in the next update!
To read previous monthly updates please head to our sustainability page here.