Employer Scheme Offers Extra Annual Leave for Eco Travel

As discussed in Ethical Travel’s Mainstream Breakthrough, consumers have become increasingly keen to reduce their travel carbon footprint. Speaking to this mindset, environmental scheme Climate Perks is encouraging employers to offer two extra days of annual leave to staff who use slower, less-damaging forms of holiday transport, such as rail.
According to London-based climate-change charity Possible the company driving the scheme – despite 50% of UK consumers intending to reduce their air travel in order to minimise their environmental impact, only 3% have done so (2019). The main barrier cited for this outcome is lack of time; train, coach and boat are often much slower modes of transport.
Benefits for employers involved in the initiative, which is currently in pilot phase, include an accreditation badge labelling them a climate leader. Additionally, further research from Possible found that 50% of 18- to 44 year-olds would prefer to work for an employer that helps them take clean holiday transport.
For further reading on how employers can encourage workers to make the most of their annual leave, especially from a health and wellness point of view, read Tomorrow’s Wandering Workers. See also Travel for the Agile Elite for alternative approaches to the family vacation.
Meanwhile, Ethical Travel Trends: Skift Global 2019 explores the wider shift among consumers around green tourism, as does our Look Ahead 2020: Travel & Hospitality (read the Undertourism Opportunity).