The Conscious Travel Foundation launches a collaborative Climate Fund for members - in partnership with Pinwheel

22.05.2024 - 11:51 / traveldailynews.com / Theodore Koumelis

The Conscious Travel Foundation partners with Pinwheel to launch a Climate Fund, enabling travel industry members to invest in top-tier climate and ecological projects globally.

The Conscious Travel Foundation, in partnership with Pinwheel, is launching a new collaborative Climate Fund. The fund will enable members to contribute to best-in-class climate and ecological projects as part of an overarching climate action programme.

The travel industry is responsible for roughly 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions – 3% of which stem from aviation. The Conscious Travel Foundation and its members recognise the significant environmental impact of our industry on the planet caused by tourism, and the responsibility that we have to mitigate and repair the damage – with a focus on making travel’s impact both positive and enduring.

Gavin Sheppard, founder and CEO of Pinwheel, said: “The Conscious Travel Foundation has shown inspiring commitment to making travel more sustainable. We’re thrilled to be working alongside them to take climate action to the next level by funding some of the world’s most impactful climate and ecological initiatives.”

When polled, 62% of members told the Foundation that they had struggled to find a solution to mitigating the carbon emissions of their business. In partnering with Pinwheel, the new Climate Fund offers members a flexible and robust way to contribute to best-in-class carbon removal and climate initiatives, alongside the Foundation’s ongoing partnership with ecollective which facilitates carbon education and reduction strategies.

Working with a pilot group of members, including travel designers Joro Experiences, AW Private Travel and Katie Terrington Private Travel, and sales and marketing representatives, Senderos, the Foundation has pre-selected a blended portfolio of projects from around the world, aligned to core principles within the WWF and BCG Corporate Climate Mitigation Blueprint and the SBTi beyond value chain mitigation framework. The portfolio combines high quality carbon credits with investment in biodiversity repair and regeneration, including rainwater harvesting bunds in Kenya, seagrass restoration in Puerto Rico and greenhouse gas destruction in Costa Rica.

Members of The Conscious Travel Foundation have access to Pinwheel at specially negotiated rates and can link their project contributions to carbon emissions, revenues or a fixed sum. 90% of funding goes directly to projects with the remaining 10% split between Pinwheel and The Conscious Travel Foundation to administer the scheme and provide ongoing impact monitoring and reporting.

Simon Heyes, director at Senderos and founding member of The Conscious Travel Foundation said: “We all need to play our part