While there are many actions that businesses can take to reduce their carbon emissions, the touring sector is challenged by its reliance on fossil fuels used to transport visitors. Outback Offsets provided a solution to this challenge as it allowed the participating tour operators to offset the carbon emissions they generated by supporting a project which was reducing emissions elsewhere.
Leading international sustainability management company, PE International (Australia), assisted Tourism NT to develop the Outback Offsets project. They worked with each operator to analyse and identify ways to reduce or avoid emissions, tailored to each business’ operations. Operators committed to reducing their emissions using emissions monitoring plans developed by PE International (Australia). Each business invested considerable time and resources towards improving their environmental practices.
The carbon footprint of each operator was measured for 2007/08 to establish benchmark information. Each business maintained records of their electricity and water bills, fuel consumed, volume of waste sent to landfill and other associated areas of their operations which generated carbon emissions for 2008/09. At the end of the financial year, PE International (Australia) developed comprehensive Life Cycle Assessments which summarised the total emissions generated by each operator based on the information they recorded.
Tourism NT purchased carbon credits from LMS Generation Pty Ltd (LMS), an Australian Government approved Greenhouse Friendly™ abatement provider. The LMS project from which these carbon credits were sourced is the Shoal Bay Landfill Gas Generation project in Darwin. This facility produces electricity from methane gas harvested from waste and is the first of its kind in the Northern Territory.
The completed Life Cycle Assessments for each operator indicated a total volume of 3 835 tonnes of carbon emissions were generated in 2008/09. Tourism NT retired an equivalent number of carbon credits by providing the serial numbers of the credits they had purchased from LMS Generation to the Australian Government Department of Climate Change. PE International (Australia) issued an assurance statement which verified all aspects of the project were completed consistent with all relevant international standards and the Australian Government Department of Climate Change Greenhouse Friendly Guidelines.
The outcome of each of these steps is that the Central Australian operations of Adventure Tours Australia, Connections Safaris and Connections Adventures and Wayoutback Desert Safaris were carbon neutral for 2008/09.
WWF Australia supported Tourism NT in the development of this pilot carbon offset program. When the program was launched, Greg Bourne, Chief Executive Officer, WWF-Australia, said “WWF congratulates Tourism NT and the tour operators for this important Pilot Project. WWF supports this project because it believes that it is very important to establish an independent, transparent and credible programme for small and medium businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. ”
“This collaboration between WWF, Government and the tourism industry shows how constructive partnerships can be forged to develop innovative and practical solutions to caring for our planet. It demonstrates to the touring public and to industry that we can continue to participate in and enjoy our wonderful natural environment if we simultaneously put in place programmes which help to protect that environment.
I am hopeful that the learnings from this Pilot Project can be applied to and extended throughout the tourism industry and into other industry sectors.”
Overall, the project was very successful. For travellers, Outback Offsets provided assurance that when they booked a tour with one of the participating tour operators, there was no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions as a result of their booking. Results of passenger surveys conducted by participating tour operators indicated that the option to choose tours that were being offset was attractive and for those aware of the program, it was an influencing factor in the decision to travel with the tour operator they chose.
The tourism businesses involved in the project developed an understanding of how to measure, reduce and manage their carbon emissions and ultimately has resulted in improved environmental management and awareness among each of the three operators and their staff.
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