Why Outback Offsets was developed
Consumer research conducted by Tourism NT and Tourism Australia in 2007/08 showed a high level of concern about the impacts of climate change and its long term effects on the environment. This followed a period of active lobbying in the UK and Europe against long haul aviation because of its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
The research indicated that the potential exists for a large percentage of consumers to change their travel behaviour if they are not satisfied that enough is being done to address the carbon impact of leisure travel. The Territory’s ideal visitors are very much part of this changing dynamic.
In line with the changing consumer mindset about the environment and climate change, the number of information sources advising people how to ‘travel green’ has also been increasing. These typically include tips telling travellers to:
- fly less – take fewer and longer holidays
- take direct flights (due to the volume of fuel used on take off and landing)
- take direct flights (due to the volume of fuel used on take off and landing)
- take public transport wherever possible
- offset emissions from travel
- choose tour products and stay in accommodation that demonstrates a commitment to looking after the environment.
This type of advice presents challenges for the Northern Territory, with limited public transport options such as rail and coach travel that cover the vast distances between key destinations, limited number of direct international flights into the NT, and only a small number of tourism operators participating in carbon offset programs at present.
With carbon offsetting increasingly being used in the tourism sector as a way for businesses to reduce their emissions, Tourism NT decided to develop a pilot project to establish an offset program which would make the operations of the participating tour operators carbon neutral in 2008/09.
The objectives that Outback Offsets set out to achieve were:
- to reduce the carbon footprint of the touring sector in the Red Centre
- to test the influence of carbon neutrality on traveller’s purchase decisions
- to provide an insight into the process of establishing carbon offsetting within a tourism enterprise to enable the experience to be shared with other tourism businesses in the Northern Territory
- to enhance the Northern Territory’s position as an attractive destination for environmentally aware travellers, particularly those visiting from long-haul markets
How Outback Offsets was developed
Tourism NT selected the touring sector in Central Australia as the basis for the program, particularly because avoiding carbon emissions is a difficult task for tour operators, due to their reliance on fossil fuels for transport.
Tourism NT partnered with three Central Australian tour operators to establish this pilot program: Adventure Tours Australia , Connections Safaris and Connections Adventures and Wayoutback Desert Safaris.. These operators comprise approximately 40% of the touring sector in Central Australia. Only the tours conducted in the Red Centre were included.
Leading international sustainability consultants, PE International (Australia), were engaged to assist in developing the project. They have experience providing business services in a range of fields including life cycle assessments, eco-efficiency analyses, designs for the environment, benchmarking, greenhouse gas accounting, and the implementation of management systems, compliance management and sustainability reporting.
The key steps to make the participating tour operators carbon neutral for 2008/09 included:
- Emissions Monitoring Plans - understanding where the greenhouse gas emissions were generated in each business and taking steps to reduce emissions where possible
- Life Cycle Assessments - developing a system to record greenhouse gas emissions sources and assessing total greenhouse gas emissions for each business
- Purchase and retirement of carbon credits - purchasing and retiring an equal amount of carbon credits to the volume of greenhouse gases emitted by each operator in 2008/09.
Emissions Monitoring Plans
PE International (Australia) worked with each of the operators to determine the various sources of greenhouse gas emissions they generated in operating their tours. A primary focus of Outback Offsets was to ensure that the tour operators focused on reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions Monitoring Plans were developed for each business to help them to identify opportunities to reduce their carbon footprint.
The Emissions Monitoring Plans included actions such as:
- Conduct energy efficient driver training to encourage tour guides to maximise the fuel efficiency of the vehicles
- Install real time fuel consumption gauges on vehicles to give drivers instant feedback to help them drive more efficiently and implement incentive programs to reward those drivers that used fuel wisely
- Implement a rigorous vehicle maintenance schedule
- Purchase more fuel efficient vehicles, which are fit for purpose, as they become available on the market
- Minimise air travel and offset all flights
- Adopt more energy efficient behaviour in the office and install energy efficient lighting etc.
- Reduce electricity by using clothes lines to wash sleeping bags instead of dryers
Life Cycle Assessments
The three participating operators, Adventure Tours Australia, Connections Safaris and Connections Adventures and Wayoutback Desert Safaris underwent a comprehensive and rigorous greenhouse gas (GHG) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) at the start of the project and again at the end of the 2008/09 financial year.
The Life Cycle Assessments were used to analyse the environmental impacts that occurred in the delivery of the tours. They provided information on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the preparation of the tours (the preparation phase) including mainly the back office and supply of fuels, the tours themselves (the use phase of the tour) and the clean up after the tour (the end of life phase).
Sources of greenhouse gas emissions from the three tour operators in each of these phases included:
| Preparation Phase | Use Phase | End of Life Phase |
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Each of the tour operators supplied data for the initial Life Cycle Assessment which included a range of information sources such as electricity, gas and water bills, waste management bills, staff air travel records, log book records for tour vehicles, diesel purchases, tour records and passenger numbers.
A reporting system to record all of the data was implemented and maintained by each operator throughout 2008/09. At the end of the year, PE International (Australia) developed a second Life Cycle Assessment for each business. These assessments summarised the total emissions generated by each operator based on the information they recorded. Collectively, the three operators emitted 3,835 tonnes of Greenhouse Gas emissions in 2008/09.
The Life Cycle Assessment process was aligned with ISO 14040 requirements and the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change Greenhouse Friendly guidelines. Greenhouse Gas emissions were calculated using the methodology and emissions factors in the Australian Government’s National Greenhouse Accounting workbook 2008.
Purchase and retirement of carbon credits
To offset the total number of emissions for 2008/09 for each business, carbon credits were purchased from the LMS Generation(LMS) abatement project in the Northern Territory. LMS is an Australian Government approved Greenhouse Friendly™ abatement provider. The LMS abatement 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 electricity LMS generate from methane stops greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases that are avoided are measured in tonnes, and these are known as carbon credits or carbon abatement. LMS provided a statement to Tourism NT summarising the details of the carbon credits which were purchased for Outback Offsets. Each tonne of carbon credit has its own serial number.
The Life Cycle Assessment data prepared by PE International (Australia) for 2008/09 indicated the total volume of greenhouse gas emissions generated by each tour operator, measured in tonnes.
To make the operators carbon neutral for 2008/09, Tourism NT retired the carbon credits. To do this, the serial numbers of an equivalent volume of carbon credits to the total volume of greenhouse gas emissions generated by each tour operator were provided to the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change. The Department of Climate Change confirmed that the retired carbon credits were recorded on their register.
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.
PE International (Australia) provided independent verification for each step of the Outback Offsets program and confirmed in an assurance statement that the three tour operators were carbon neutral for the year.
Essential Ingredients
Crucial elements in the development of Outback Offsets were that it needed to be rigorous, transparent and independently verifiable. The primary reasons for this included:
- An increasing number of products and services have emerged in recent years which make the claim of being ‘environmentally friendly’. Unfortunately not all of these products have lived up to this claim, resulting in widespread ‘greenwashing’ which is the practice of making false environmental claims, and this has led to consumer scepticism.
- The market for carbon offsetting is relatively new, and is therefore unregulated, which has meant that some offset products have not delivered the outcomes they were designed to achieve, adding to the scepticism associated with this option as a genuine opportunity to reduce emissions.
- There is a view that carbon offsetting can discourage individuals or businesses from cutting greenhouse gases associated with their own behaviour and actions because offsets allow them to ‘buy their way out’ of the problem.
- Research indicates experienced travellers are very sensitive to ‘greenwash’ and want to be assured that tourism businesses have a real commitment to improving the environment, rather than just improving visitor numbers by promoting green tourism.
Project outcomes
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. Most importantly, these offsets were provided at no cost to the consumer.
Surveys were conducted to measure the level of awareness of the Outback Offsets program among passengers travelling with participating tour operators. Surveys were distributed to passengers between September 2008 and June 2009 and the aim was to test the level of influence the carbon offsetting program had in relation to the decision to travel with the participating operators.
Around a third of all survey respondents were aware that their tour was being offset and over half of these respondents were strongly influenced by the offset program in booking the tour. The results of these surveys can be viewed here.
For Adventure Tours Australia, Connections Safaris and Connections Adventures and Wayoutback Desert Safaris, their involvement in the project enabled them to develop a thorough understanding of how to measure, reduce and manage their carbon emissions and ultimately has resulted in improved environmental management and awareness among each of these operators and their staff.
Further information
For Northern Territory tourism businesses interested in setting up a carbon offset program, there are many different ways of approaching it. Tourism NT can offer support to help you understand more about carbon offsetting, and help you plan a carbon management strategy for your business.
For an overview on carbon offsetting and links to related information, click here.
