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Carbon emissions of our travels

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As travel professionals and outdoor specialists, we are acutely aware of the impacts that our adventures are having on the environment and are committed to preserving the natural spaces and indigenous communities that we encounter on our trips.
With this in mind, we want to provide you with all the information that you need to allow you to make more informed decisions, in order to contribute to reducing your carbon footprint, offering complete transparency in our own carbon management. By displaying our calculation methods and the amounts of carbon emissions each of our trips produces, we hope to provide you with insights into how we are creating trips that emit increasingly less CO2 and greenhouse gases, forging a more sustainable future in worldwide travel.

What are Carbon Emissions?

Carbon emissions, often referred to as CO2 emissions, are a measure of the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) released into the atmosphere due to various human activities. These GHGs are one of the main causes of global warming and climate change that we see today. They are emitted mainly by the combustion of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal, as well as other industrial and agricultural activities. The main GHGs emitted by these activities are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ozone (O3).

What do we mean when we talk about “CO2 equivalent”?

You will notice that we refer to our Carbon Emissions as 'C02e'. This stands for 'C02 equivalent' and it allows us to combine and compare the impacts of the different GHGs mentioned above using a single 'C02e' unit. This is important because, although carbon dioxide plays a huge factor in the changes occurring to our climate, the other GHGs are also heavily involved in this. For example, methane is 28 times more polluting than CO2, so 1kg of methane is referred to as 28kg CO2e.

What do the KG of CO2e displayed on our trips correspond to?

When we are calculating the carbon emissions produced by our trips, we take into consideration accommodation, fuel, transport, flights and activities  - food is included as a ‘default’ option as this varies from trip to trip so we work this out as an estimated average. These are then worked out using our Carmacal calculator, which is specific to the travel sector, allowing specific hotel/activity/transport emissions to be inputted on multiple days and occasions.

As an example:
  • 1 kg of CO2e = 500 km by train
  • 2 kg of CO2e = a 10km journey in a petrol car
  • 10 kg of CO2e = a meal which includes red meat
  • 1000 kg CO2e = a one-way plane trip from London to New York

To provide even more context, here are examples of the calculations for our most popular trips:

  • Classic Inca Trail - Peru

    96 kg CO2 per traveller
    • Transport to destination : 0 kg
    • Accommodation : 67 kg
    • Local transport (435km) : 15 kg
    • Activities : 14 kg

  • Lemosho Route - Tanzania

    127 kg CO2 per traveller
    • Transport to destination : 0 kg
    • Accommodation : 84 kg
    • Local transport (192km) : 29 kg
    • Activities : 14 kg

  • Everest Base Camp Trek - Nepal

    280 kg CO2 per traveller
    • Lukla flights : 102 kg
    • Accommodation : 149 kg
    • Local land transport (172km) : 6 kg
    • Activities : 23 kg

How are the carbon emissions from our trips calculated?

At Kandoo Adventures, we take our environmental responsibility seriously. We calculate the carbon emissions of each trip by taking into account several factors, including:
  • Transport: we assess the environmental impact of the means of transport used during the trip, taking into account the use of planes, cars, trains and boats.
  • Activities: we analyse the activities included in each trip, ensuring that they have minimal impact on the environment.
  • Accommodation: we consider the types of accommodation we use, favouring those which adopt more environmentally friendly practices.
  • Food: we encourage our local partners to adopt sustainable catering practices, such as promoting local cuisine and reducing food waste.
NB: We have decided not to take aerial emissions into account in our calculation as we don’t provide these within our trips, the data displayed on these routes therefore only corresponds to the calculation of in-destination emissions.

Our commitments and actions for reducing the emissions of our travel

At Kandoo Adventures, we believe in collective responsibility for our planet. We are proud to take steps to reduce our environmental impact and allow our travellers to participate in this effort. Our various actions on the ground help to reduce our impact and allow our travellers to travel in a responsible manner. If you want to know more about the actions we are implementing to improve our sustainability, you can take a look at our Sustainability page.