ZERO – the travel business and the environment

ZERO – the travel business and the environment

Our monthly ZERO report. As this is a subscription report, the following is not the current edition.

Electric cruising

Three Gorges 1, an electric cruise ship, has been launched on the Yangtze River in China. It claims to be the largest such vessel – 100m long, capacity 1300 passengers.

  TG1 is powered by a 7500-kilowatt-hour battery, the equivalent to the battery capacity of 100 electric vehicles. Its range on a single charge is 100km, which would normally need 530 tonnes of fuel, thus reducing CO2 emissions by 1600 tonnes annually.

Cruise greenwashing

CLIA* reports a number of EV actions for the cruise business that are mostly blatant or hidden greenwashing*. Viz:

-CLIA’s ‘ocean-going’ members to ‘pursue’ net-zero carbon cruising by 2050*. Note 1.

-By 2035 CLIA ships will stop at ports where there are SSEs*.

-CLIA ‘will join’ the Global Maritime Forum Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization to make zero emission vessels and fuels the ‘default choice’ by 2030.

*Notes:

-CLIA = Cruise Lines International Association.

-‘Greenwashing’ is when entities make claims of EF activity, but in reality the moves are minor, at best, and only good to promote the entity’s EF image.

-SSE = shoreside electricity. Allows ship engines to be switched off in port.

-Note 1. 1, 2050 is 30 years from now and we believe an unconvincing target, for public relations purposes only; 2030 would be a tough target, but surely 2035 is the furthest credible date? 2, To ‘pursue’ is not a worthy commitment. 3, ‘Ocean-going’ means river cruisers (and Seas, such as the Adriatic?) are exempted. 4, Wording is ‘ocean-going members’; is that different from ‘ocean-going ships’?

-Note 2. 1, CLIA says this means no CO2 emissions, but that is misleading; the ship will have no emissions, but the port’s SSE could still have emissions. 2, Where there are no SSEs, it will seek best available alternatives; that makes the gesture meaningless.

-Note 3. 1, when will it join? 2, ‘default choice’ is not the same as saying only EF vessels (a ‘choice’ means there is a choice).

-At press time, we had not received an answer to our request for clarifications.

Six Senses energy positive!

The 94-room Six Senses Svart (SSS) in northern Norway, due to open in 2024, plans to be energy-positive. details:

-Carbon neutral with local production and zero waste to landfill.

-SSS is planned to be built on poles, meaning no boundary between land and fjord, ensuring slight land impact and seabed disruption.

-The resort is forecast to collect enough solar energy to put back into the system, to cover the hotel, adjacent operations, boat shuttle, and the energy needed to construct the building – making it independent of any power grid.

-SSS could deliver 89% of the 45% fall in emissions required to reach the Paris plan to hold global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

-SSS is planned to have its own waste and water management, recycling, and renewable infrastructure.

-Its Marketplace dining venue is planned to be zero-waste; whatever isn’t eaten from the farm may be pickled.

-Six Senses has established a Net Zero Lab to develop and take to market the technology.

Cleaner air

From Washington Aviation Summary; comments from ZERO:

[] Airbus and Delta are working together on research and development of hydrogen-powered aircraft.

[] Gevo will supply 285mn litres of SAF to Delta annually for seven years, starting mid-2026. Delta needs 1.5bn litres annually by end-2030 to meet its 10% SAF commitment and 15bn litres annually for SAF-only flights.

[] A US government body, National Energy Technology Laboratory, has completed a feasibility study for a gas-to-fuel facility at Pittsburgh airport.

  NETL forecasts the plant could be built in four years and cost US$550-740mn. It could produce 1.2mn litres daily (2.65bn litres annually) of synthetic jet fuel. That volume is near current fuel consumption at the airport.

[] Three next-generation aircraft concepts have been created as part of the UK’s Fly Zero project to demonstrate zero-carbon emission technologies, hopefully to fly by 2030.

[] Swiss Airlines has signed for ‘sun-to-liquid’ solar fuel from Switzerland-based Synhelion. The process uses concentrated solar heat to manufacture syngas that can then be synthesised into jet fuel. When combusted, the fuel produces as much CO2 as went into its manufacture.

  Swiss and the Lufthansa Group will also pay (the amount is not given) for a planned fuel production facility in Spain by Synhelion.

Briefs

[] Beyond Green, an accommodation group, has announced a travel-booking platform with And Beyond, a travel operator that also has accommodation outlets. The AB trips, in Africa and South America, are EF.

[] Hong Kong-based Regal Hotels has launched Meta Green, to develop an ESG-themed (environmental, social, governance) plot of ‘Land’ in The Sandbox, a gaming virtual world of Animoca Brands. We do see this as EF, as Regal claims.

[] There are now 538 signatories of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, launched November 2021.

  Signatories commit* to decarbonise ‘tourism operations and to restore and protect ecosystems, helping visitors and host communities experience better balance with nature’.

  The commitment* is loose in requirements, and not strict in application – no clear targets, no commitments. New signatory Booking, for instance, targets ‘near-zero’ emissions for 2030, and net-zero in 2040*.

*Notes:

-Commitments are ‘to support’ halving emissions by 2030, and achieving net zero by 2050.

-2040 and 2050 are 20&30 years from now and we believe unconvincing targets, for public relations purposes only. 2030 would be a tough target, but surely 2035 is the furthest credible date?

[] WTTC* has published Destination 2030 on what makes a city ‘ready’* for ‘sustainable travel’*. This includes:

-63 cities measured and ranked into one of five levels of ‘readiness’* – to provide ‘attainable solutions to promote sustainable growth’ in the visitor business.

-‘Readiness’ measures scale, concentration, leisure, business, urban readiness, policy prioritisation, environmental, safety/security.

*Notes:

-WTTC = World Travel & Tourism Council. A UK-based lobby group for the travel business, established in 1990.

-From 2021, WTTC has claimed that it ‘represents’ the worldwide travel business. This is wrong (the WTTC does not represent us, for example), and surprisingly egocentric. We had hoped that this was a temporary editorial mis-statement.

-Note 1. 1, Surely every city can be defined as ‘ready’, but it is action that would make a difference? 2, Definition of ‘sustainable travel’ not given.

-Note 2. Definitions not given.

-Note 3. 1, Broadly, this covers everything. 2, WTTC notes eight categories; more are listed, so we presume some are combined.

-At press time, we had not received an answer to our request for clarifications.

[] TDN* reports on a Mabrian* report on CO2 emissions in Mediterranean destinations*:

-Average CO2 kgs per passenger 2022 (change compared with 2019) – Total 111.2kg -4.67%; France 132.9 +2.87%; Portugal 122.1 -9.05%; Spain 118.1 -3.35%; Italy 100.4 -11.8%; Greece 97.72 -1.87%.

-Growth in CO2 – Total -19.7%; Greece +4.59%; Spain -15.4%; Portugal -16.9%; France -23.9%; Italy -27.9%.

*Notes:

-Spain-based Mabrian Technologies, a travel data consultancy.

-TDN is Greece-based publication Travel Daily News.

-Mabrian compares Jan-Oct 2022 against 2019; we presume part of this is a forecast.

-At press time, we had not received an answer to our request for clarifications.

#environment

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