A growing number of tour and travel organizations in Canada are rethinking their business plans as customers clamour to reduce their environmental footprint in new ways, such as buying carbon offsets from airlines and other companies.

Air Canada has teamed up with Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based non-profit agency that works to help companies and organizations become more carbon-neutral.

The airline, which links directly to a carbon dioxide (CO2) calculator on the zerofootprint.ca website, says it is also embracing other green initiatives, such as using more hybrid technology and less polluting fuels for ground support vehicles. Improved fuel efficiency is also a crucial part of the carrier's newer aircraft, officials say.

"By working with Zerofootprint, we will make it easy for people to calculate the impact of their journey and mitigate those effects with a small voluntary additional payment to support environmental projects that reduce greenhouse gases," says Air Canada marketing vice-president Charles McKee.

File photo by Shannon Oatway, Business Edge

Derek Cook-Kerr of Travel Alberta says his organization has discussed ways to adopt green travel practices.

The Zerofootprint website provides information about carbon offsets and its calculator allows travellers to determine how much CO2 their trip will generate - about 800 kilograms per person on a Montreal-Vancouver return trip, for example.

Based on Air Canada's aircraft specifications, that would cost customers an extra $12.80 each to offset - compared to the carbon generated by driving a 2005 Honda Civic about 20,000 kilometres.

The initiative "balances out climate-changing carbon dioxide that is put into the atmosphere by our activities, it highlights the environmental costs of goods and services we buy and, when you offset with (planting) trees, it restores ecosystems, habitats, watersheds, green communities and creates jobs," says Zerofootprint executive director Deborah Kaplan.

Non-aviation companies are also promoting their green-travel programs.

VIA Rail, for example, is making customers aware that train or bus travel can produce three to six times less CO2 emissions than flying.

The corporation is also promoting its other green programs, including the fact it serves guests fair-trade coffee, uses 100-per-cent recycled paper in its products such as napkins, toilet tissue and internal and corporate publications and has added more fuel-efficient trains to its fleet.

Canadians are paying attention to the green travel trend, says the Conference Board of Canada.

The board released a report earlier this year that said seven out of 10 Canadians indicated they would be willing to pay $10 for every $10,000 airfare on green energy projects that have been approved by government.

The trend has even made the spotlight in Hollywood - at this year's Academy Awards in February, Oscar presenters were given one year's worth of carbon offsets instead of the lavish gift bags they've received in previous years.

Back in Canada, the green travel movement is beginning to take hold in Alberta. Derek Coke-Kerr, managing director of Travel Alberta, says an increasing number of consumers have clearly indicated they want to do their part to reduce their environmental footprint.

Clare Demerse

"There's going to be pressure on airlines ... but also other forms of travel to ensure the environmental footprint is minimized. And I think an important mandate of Travel Alberta is to set an example," he says.

Coke-Kerr says he spoke with other senior staff in recent weeks about the need to embrace green travel. He notes Travel Alberta staff are forced to travel the province - "that's our business" - but that a commitment is being made to find out how this can be done with the least possible impact on the environment.

Alberta already has some success stories with eco-tourism, though more must be done because consumers demand it, Coke-Kerr adds.

"We've already seen this happening in Alberta with companies like Fairmont (hotels) in Canada's national parks. They have a great environmental record and they take it very seriously," he said.

"This will definitely have an impact on the tourism industry. No doubt about it."

Tourism Vancouver and the western Canadian arm of Uniglobe Travel announced a partnership earlier this year that gives West Coast-bound air travellers the ability to pay an average of $10 extra a flight to help offset pollution caused through aircraft emissions.

"We thought this was the ultimate way to get involved," says Wendy Underwood, manager of travel media relations (international & trade) for Tourism Vancouver. "Our destination is pretty important to us here, and it's important to us to preserve it. This is just one way of doing that."

The initiative, known as the Green Flight Program, allows eco-friendly travellers to balance the negative effects of their air travel by investing in Green Flights credits when booking through Uniglobe, says Michelle Desreux, the company's president in Western Canada.

The surcharge each traveller can opt to pay is based on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated by a customer's flight. Funds collected go toward a cash pool that is devoted to projects that create and use renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power, Desreux said.

"Uniglobe is asking travellers to look at the environmental consequences of flying and invest a little to offset their flight's impact," she adds. "Together, we can help combat a serious and growing environmental problem."

Tourism Vancouver makes all of its flight arrangements through Uniglobe - one of its key industry partners - and response has been good from travellers and industry, said Underwood. The agency was the first tourism destination organization in Canada to offer carbon offsetting, though several major travel companies have since joined the movement.

Environmental group World Wildlife Fund-Canada (WWF-Canada) is also actively getting into the green travel market, partnering with Toronto-based high-end tour operator Horizon and Co. to encourage travellers to participate in culturally and environmentally sensitive trips that focus on issues such as habitat protection.

WWF naturalists take part in the Wildlife and Wild Places tours, which offer unique journeys such as watching Bengal tigers in the wilds of India, learning first-hand about Mexico's butterfly migration or exploring the marine habitats of Cuba.

The green travel trend is seen by industry observers as a natural evolution of the growing international demand for authentic and low-impact eco-travel experiences. And while it's important to do whatever possible to reduce travel's impact on the eco-system, it's equally as important for travellers to educate themselves about which projects are truly reducing the carbon footprint, says Clare Demerse, climate-change policy analyst with the Pembina Institute, an environmental policy research group.

"Offsets can be valuable, because they generally reduce emissions," says Demerse. "But we don't want people to think it's a get-out-of-jail-free card. Consumers really need to be aware of ... what they are paying for. You've got to look around."

Those questions include ensuring money collected through carbon offset programs are being used specifically for investment in new and less environmentally harmful projects that that would otherwise not have been, she says. "How is this not just business as usual? What's being done that's totally new or different?" she asks.

The Pembina Institute is currently developing its own information guide for consumers, and Demerse said it's important that government begin regulating the carbon offset industry to ensure standardization of data and practices, something that's already been done in the United Kingdom.

But for now, Demerse says, it's up to travellers to ensure they are spending their money wisely by consulting with reputable organizations such as the David Suzuki Foundation to see what they recommend as true carbon-offset benchmarks.

"You've got to be consumer smart. You have to look around."

(Susan Mate can be reached at sue@businessedge.ca)