Why should we address climate change and reduce our emissions

Climate change is the greatest challenge facing the world today. Rising global temperatures will bring changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels and increased frequency of extreme weather events such as hurricanes. The effects will be felt worldwide and are likely to cause the most severe problems for people in regions that are particularly vulnerable. The greenhouse effect is very important when we talk about climate change as it relates to the gases which keep the Earth warm. It is the extra greenhouse gases resulting from human activity which are thought to pose the strongest threat. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) currently accounts for the majority of the greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.

Tourist related transportation accounts for about 3% (equivalent to 1,263 million tonnes CO₂e) of global greenhouse gas emissions. Each transfer booking made with us creates about 13 kilograms of carbon dioxide, which is about the same as 62 bathtubs. We are acting now to reduce its carbon emissions and to offset those that remain, therefore reducing its contribution to climate change. You can also make a difference through offsetting the emissions associated with your transfer and balancing your carbon impact on the environment

How the offset fee has been calculated

The level of emissions from our transport is highly variable since it depends on many factors: the type of vehicle, the length of the transfer, and the country that the transfer takes place in. We are working towards gathering enough information to more accurately calculate the emissions created from each individual transfer. This is a huge task and so since we are reasonably confident in the total emissions from all of our transfers and in order to take immediate action, we have decided to use a fixed carbon offset fee for each booking. This amount represents the total emissions from all transfers booked through us shared across all of our customers

To make sure that we offset the total emissions associated with our service, we have used a conservatively high estimate of 'emissions per booking'. This means that by offsetting with us you can be confident that you are creating an overall benefit to our environment

Where does your money go?

We will contribute 100% of each £0.50 that you give us to offset the emissions from your transport to purchase a managed portfolio of 'Voluntary Carbon Standard' credits. These credits are generated by a range of certified projects that guarantee to measurably offset at least the total amount of emissions that you have paid for, whilst benefiting local communities, the environment and wildlife. We do not profit from the offset

China: Inner Mongolia 100MW Wind Power Project, verified by the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS1)

The purpose of the project is to generate electricity using wind energy and to export it to the regional electricity grid. The project also aims to contribute to sustainable economic growth, conservation of the environment through use of wind as a renewable energy source and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The Project contributes to sustainable development in the following manner:

• Sustainable development through generation of eco-friendly power
• Reducing energy deficit and increasing the share of renewable energy power generation in the regional and national grid
• Providing national energy security, especially when global fossil fuel reserves threaten the long term sustainability of the economy
• Strengthening rural electrification coverage
• Reducing GHG emissions compared to a business-as-usual scenario
• Reducing other pollutants (SOx, NOx, PM etc.,) resulting from the thermal power industry
• Contribute towards reducing power shortage in local areas
• Demonstrating and stimulating the growth of the wind power industry
• Enhancing local employment in the vicinity of the project
• Conserving natural resources including land, forests, minerals, water and ecosystems

Our promises and moving towards greener transfers

We take responsibility for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions it creates through providing transport booking services to you, and where we cannot yet reduce our emissions, we commit to offsetting them. In addition, we give you the opportunity to offset the emissions related to the transport that you take, enabling you to make your transfer carbon neutral.

What we are doing to reduce our carbon emissions:

• We ensure that our office operates as efficiently as possible, and we continually look for ways in which we can increase our energy efficiency by optimising our energy use and limiting the use of high energy consuming office equipment, so that we can make further reductions to our carbon emissions.
• We aim to minimise waste and avoid unnecessary use of paper; all of our bookings are issued electronically and what little paper we do use, we recycle.
• We are helping you to be energy efficient by expanding our portfolio of energy efficient services. We already offer shared transfers in 60 destinations, which we aim to increase since they are convenient and economic for small parties and individual travellers. Shared transfers allow us to use fewer vehicles for the same number of passengers thereby keeping emissions to a minimum and wasting less energy.
• For larger groups we offer minibuses and coaches, allowing passengers to travel in one vehicle rather than several.
• We are exploring use of hybrid vehicles where possible.
• We work with transport providers to encourage them to reduce and offset their own carbon emissions.