Our Climate Action Plan Is Changing

October 2025

By Darrell Wade, Co-founder and Chair and James Thornton, CEO, Intrepid Travel

Since 2005, Intrepid has aspired to be a leader in climate-conscious travel. We have been carbon neutral since 2010, were the first global tour operator with approved science-based targets and among the first in our industry to become a certified B Corp.

We’ve always had the ambition to ensure that exploring the world could also help sustain it – but Intrepid, and frankly the entire travel industry, is not on track to achieve a 1.5C future, and more urgent action is required if we are to get even close.  

We committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2020 but five years on, we haven’t been able to adequately reduce our own emissions. While we’ve made progress with our Scope 1 and Scope 2, Intrepid is not on track to meet our Scope 3 Science Based Target by 2034.

At the same time, governments have failed to act on ambitious policies on renewable energy or sustainable aviation fuels that support the scale of change that is required.

We are not comfortable maintaining a target that we know we won’t meet.

So today we’re announcing a major reset in our approach to climate action, including new science-aligned* targets (Scope 1 and Scope 2). This is not a retreat from climate leadership, but a reset to have a new extended focus on the entire emission chain from Intrepid's activities.

Our reset is grounded in three important changes:

• We are retiring our carbon offset program and Climate Active certification to focus on decarbonisation investment;
• We’re shifting to a lifecycle-based carbon intensity reduction target; and
• We’re stepping away from SBTi.

1. Replacing offsets with decarbonisation

We’re retiring our carbon offset program and stepping away from Climate Active certification. Offsets served an important purpose, but they no longer reflect the scale or immediacy of the challenge.

Instead, we’re launching a Climate Impact Fund, redirecting $2 million each year from offsets into practical, immediate emissions reductions.

This will include things like switching our owned and leased vehicles to EVs; investing in renewable energy in our hotels and offices; and sourcing lower-carbon fuel alternatives for transportation.

We will also work with our 10,000+ suppliers to decarbonise via EV and renewable energy investments. Examples include providing loans to suppliers in countries like India and Nepal so they can purchase EVs and installing solar panels in homestays in places like Cambodia.

Progress will be verified by our independent auditors in our Annual Report.

2. Introducing a Lifecycle Emissions Target

Under global accounting carbon protocols, tour operators are not obliged to account for customers’ own flights to their tour joining point. However, we know that these flights contribute more than 75% of lifecycle emissions to our trips and we therefore feel these flights are very much a part of lifecycle emissions of our business and travellers.

That’s why we are now bringing them into carbon accounting methodology.

We believe we need to acknowledge our true environmental footprint by adopting a model that reflects reality.

We also believe that we have a responsibility to be transparent and take accountability for the full end-to-end emissions, which is not what was measured under SBTi.

Our new 8% carbon intensity reduction target by 2030 covers the full lifecycle of travel – including flights booked directly by customers to get to and from their trips. This means by 2030, the average emissions per trip will be 8% lower than today. This approach centres on immediate, operational emission reductions — prioritising tangible, internal changes over distant ambitions.

What it means in practice is that we will invest in and grow domestic and short-haul products, which in turn means fewer long-haul flights.

This will shape how we build trips, where we go and how we get there. It’s not just a technical adjustment — it’s a fundamental shift in how we think about our responsibility as a travel company.

3. Adopting a new 2030 climate target

In 2020 we joined the Science Based Targets initiative with three near-term 2035 targets and backed that commitment by removing flights on trips where viable alternatives exist, promoting alternative transport, introducing carbon labelling on our trips, ceasing operations in Antarctica and more.

These actions were not symbolic, they were real, tangible steps towards emissions reduction, but they haven’t been enough.

While the transition to renewable energy, sustainable aviation fuels and electric vehicles across the 117 countries in which we operate is progressing – it simply isn’t rolling out fast enough.

This is a major issue – because as a tour operator, more than 95% of our Scope 3 emissions lie in our supply chain in flights, ground transport and accommodation provided by more than 10,000 suppliers. These are businesses that we do not own or control. While we can – and do – educate and influence, we are not able to create the change that we need at the scale that we need it.

This means our current pathway is no longer viable. We’re stepping away from SBTi – but not from the action.

We have growth ambitions, which means our overall absolute emissions will likely rise, but we are committed to reducing emissions intensity.

Our new 2030 target is an 8% reduction in carbon intensity, measured on a lifecycle basis, which is detailed above. We’ll also continue to have a specific 21% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (offices, trips, accommodation) by 2030, from a 2024 base year.

Again, progress will be independently verified by our independent auditors in our Annual Report, and we will continue to measure and report on our progress in line with GHG protocols.

This target better reflects the full impact of our operations.

A new path forward

Travel is a powerful tool to build empathy, shift perspectives, support local economies and drive global connections.

But that power means little if we aren’t willing to grapple with its environmental cost.

Intrepid’s new approach to climate action is designed to reflect the urgency of this crisis and accelerate the work we need to do to decarbonise our business. We believe the lifecycle target, which factors in customer flights to and from our trip, is critical in our new approach.

Our work will continue to evolve but will always be guided by our mission to create positive change through the joy of travel.

Learn more about our Climate Impact Fund and 2030 targets here.

*Science-aligned means the target is informed by climate science but not yet independently verified.