WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY OF SUSTAINABILITY?

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

The need for action

Climate change is changing what we eat, how we produce food, livelihoods, housing security, access to clean drinking water, where we live, etc, etc, etc
Mass extinction (Australia is a world leader)
Deforestation (Queensland is a global hotspot)
Loss of pollinators
Polar ice melting rapidly
Failure of legislation
and so on…

(Cliff Cobbo, WWF Australia)

There is increasing pressure from all stakeholders to address environmental challenges: legal, guests, distributors, investors, shareholders/owners, suppliers, staff… (David Young, Accor).

Our international competitors are leaning in to sustainability (a risk for our competitiveness if we don’t step up).
To remain competitive, we must ensure our offerings are overwhelmingly attractive to help offset any hesitations about the flight here (Tourism Australia).

A key risk/opportunity mentioned by many participants is the need to talk less and do more, as we are running out of time to become sustainable!
For example, according to the UN’s climate scientists, to avoid catastrophic runaway global heating we need to halve emissions by 2030 globally (that’s in just 5 years!), and major emitters and major fossil fuel exporters like Australia need to be very heavy lifters in drastically slashing emissions much more and much faster than other nations.

THE SOLUTIONS

You are in good company:

Starting your sustainability journey

The message was often repeated to start somewhere, start anywhere, start with what is meaningful to you, and don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

“Look forward in the micro, and look back in the macro” – i.e. work on small actions, and when you look back at what you’ve achieved you’ll see how they accumulated into a significant impact (Annette Sharp, Intrepid).

Many at the conference recommended listeners start small, but during the conference Rebecca White, The Tourism Collective, shared with me Aspen Snowmass’ Sustainability Report which challenges:

" ‘Given who I am, what is my biggest lever on climate change?

Where do I have the most power to create large-scale systems change?’

You’ll know you’re on the right track if the path you take is uncomfortable, awkward, and hard."

I recommend finding out what are the high-impact low hanging fruit for your business, like installing solar to immediately and dramatically reduce bills and emissions from heating water and heating/cooling spaces. This can be at no upfront cost if financing payments are arranged to equal the savings on power bills.

You could also start with Ecotourism Australia’s quick Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard to identify gaps in your business (i.e. opportunities!)

Then set goals
Set KPIs for staff, because what gets measured, gets improved!
Embed sustainability instead of having it optional or ancillary

I wish an activity had been facilitated so everyone left with one high-impact sustainability action to do, and accountability to follow through.

Independent certification

Independent certification (rather than self-assessment) is becoming much more important as legislation and social license evolves, as evidenced by Booking.com’s new sustainability policy, and Tourism WA’s new Dream Collective (similar to Tourism & Events Queensland’s Best of Queensland Experience Program), which after its first year will only accept members that are certified, are reducing emissions, and have had an accessibility review.

Traveller demand trends

How ethical (sustainable) do you want to be – 0%, 50% or 100%?
Is it ethical to be only partially ethical?

People want to be involved in good tourism.
71% of travellers say they want to leave the places they visit better than when they arrived.
When all things are equal, people will choose sustainable – so make the sustainable option equal; make it easier to buy.
Embed sustainability instead of having it optional or ancillary.

(Quentin Long, Australian Traveller)

Be a changemaker

Torres Strait Islander Fraser Mai is from Masig Island which is 2.7km long and 800m wide: “We’re going to change the world.”

This resonated with me! From my 700m2 suburban block, I’m also trying to be a changemaker.

I couldn’t type fast enough to capture what Fraser shared, which I loved: “To feel connected, deep belonging and relevance – these are what it means to be human, and are critical to solving our problems. Not the ‘tribes’ we identify with of fashion, sport, state, etc – these come and go. We need to use empathy, heart and compassion to build our future course.”

In the canoe together

Maori tourism development consultant, Kylie Ruwhiu-Karawana, TRC Tourism used an analogy of a canoe for learnings about how to travel with others on a sustainability journey, such as to

face the same way (go in the same direction) or you won’t make progress
remember to look over your shoulder once in a while to check everyone’s still in the canoe (that you haven’t charged on ahead and left anyone behind).

If you remove the heart of the flax bush, where will the bell bird rest? (the plant will die).
If we remove the heart of why people come to our destination, where will our guests rest?
What is the most important thing to protect? People, culture, nature.
So we have a responsibility to protect the special things - put community at the heart of what you do, so communities benefit as much as visitors.

Be accountable for protecting where you live

Chief Frank Antoine, Bonaparte First Nation, British Columbia, Canada, shared

In 2017 a wildfire much bigger than any they’d ever seen took everything from the tribe, wiping out the forests. The tribe are undertaking a two-billion tree project to clean up the region’s lakes so they can have fish hatcheries as a livelihood.
Be accountable for protecting where you live. Being proud of where you come from and what visitors can experience there and nowhere else comes with responsibility.
You are writing your story – what story do you want to come true?

Learnings from Accor’s sustainability transformation

Accor is going to pilot carbon-scored menus (I love this!!) Global food production is responsible for 1/3 of emissions, and 1/3 of food is wasted!.

“We are returning to life in the 1950s with seasonal food from local farms and shop, packaged in a brown paper bag.”

(David Young, Accor)

Say hello in the local language

When you travel to overseas, you learn to say hello in the local language. When you travel to other Countries in Australia, learn to say hello in the local language - and learn to say hello in the language local to your Country. (Gamba daru on Giabal Country).

(Matt Cameron-Smith, Voyages)

How to sell sustainable experiences

To sell your sustainable offerings, help travellers overcome these barriers:

Don’t be more expensive than a similar but unsustainable offering)
Make sure travellers can find your sustainable offering easily
Make your certification clear (what the business is doing that resulted in that certification)

(Bede Fennell, Tourism Australia)

Insights for those who haven’t yet started their sustainability journey, or have only just started

Universal truths

Progress is slow - maintain patience and persistence
Resources are limited (teams of 1-2, in addition to their day job) – be industriousness and use your influence to effect change
The landscape is always changing (e.g. customer demand, legislation) - commit to stay informed

80% of the goods and services we supply in tourism is dependent on nature! Our industry was identified to be a potential guardian of nature due to our potential to be nature positive.

When Michelle Degenhardt, Flight Centre’s Global Sustainability Officer started in her role, she asked everyone

Where should I start with sustainability?
How do I know I’m doing it right in terms of sustainability?
How can we work together as an industry to create change?

Her learnings:

Start anywhere, just start.
Make a positive impact on your staff, your customers, the communities you travel to, and be ethical – then you will know you are on the right track
Use your contacts.

She is embedding sustainability into everyone’s job – “I need everyone in the business to be improving our sustainability, not just a couple of experts and everyone else says sustainability is their job, not mine.”

Understand your starting point, and what sustainability means to your business (it is different for each business – for you is it being financially sustainable, or having community impact, for example?). Make the language clear so everyone knows what that is
Start where you have started e.g. the recycling you’re already doing
Look at how you do business – your values, and philosophy
Set clear goals relevant to issues your business or industry are facing
Engage others: from leaders and those on the ground – everyone has different agendas e.g. profit vs purpose (staff want to work for a company with values and feel proud to work for it)
It can feel lonely if you work in sustainability, so create a groundswell
Collaborate and partner – who do you admire; find people you admire and can connect with (peers and competitors), and work on shared initiatives
Develop a plan to stay on track and focused – get the plan supported by leaders and other stakeholders – and don’t get distracted by the new shiny thing but stick with your plan.
Measure and monitor – data will tell our collective sustainability story (social impact is very hard to measure – keep telling the story until you get the measures in place). What gets measured gets done.
Integrate sustainability into operations (WHS got integrated at some point – now it is essential) – that is how sustainability is headed – to be business as usual – all decisions will be made through the sustainablity lens
Communicate sustainability - use storytelling to get buy in
Be ethical about what you put in the public domain – it can be verified. The ACCC has guidelines about sustainability communications. The reputational risk of greenwashing is very hard to come back from – because it breaks trust with consumers. It’s ok not to be perfect – let people know, ‘This is what we are good at, this is what we are still working on.’
Turn risk into opportunity (climate risk) – climate change will impact all of our businesses.
Focus on continuous improvement and progress. Use a ‘review and adapt’ approach.
Stay informed about emerging practices and trends. Reach out to peers for learning. Share resources.

How to sell social sustainability improvements to decision makers: the business case for social impact

(Annette Sharp, Intrepid Travel)

Examples of social sustainability:

Protecting cultural heritage
Investing in people
Protecting human rights
Responsible sourcing
Customer satisfaction and wellbeing
Empowering and investing in communities

This is the kind of difference any business can choose to make (and engage their guests in supporting):

Forward faster

Actions in these 5 areas have the power to accelerate achievement across all 17 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Only 15% of SDGs are on track for 2030 – Could you choose one to work on improving in your circle of influence?

How to make the business case to decision makers for social sustainability:

Cost reductions
Regulations (legal requirements)
Growth opportunity
Licence to operate in a community
Dependency - the travel products we sell are dependent on our staff’s wellbeing

Annette gave examples of how she would sell social benefit initiatives to directors:

Why we should pay staff a living wage so they can afford a decent standard of living -> because our business is dependent on our staff.
Why we should be proactive around reconciliation with the Aboriginal community -> because we need their social license to operate (the community will allow us to bring guests to them)

Ethical marketing guidelines

Sustainability is embedded in Thrive 2030

(Austrade)

Growing Australian tourism sustainably means balancing economic, social and environmental factors in pursuing industry growth.

How progress on THRIVE 2030 (the national plan for tourism development) will be measured:

Regenerative tourism - making your place better

(Nic Cooper, Wild Adventures Melbourne)

Regnerative tourism is a subjective term, like transformative or responsible

Sustainable means do no further harm

Regenerative means effect long term positive impact

I try to have impact beyond the life of my baby daughter in every decision I make.

I ask, ‘Will this be beneficial to the environment or the community?’

If it will be detrimental, I try to find an alternative

If the business were totally transparent, I want to be proud of every decision I make. I don’t want to be ashamed of anything in the business.

Where I take people on tours – the Mornington Peninsula – things are happening on the edge of irreversible damage, the point of no return - it is a destination under pressure

90% of native kelp has gone
90% of seabirds have plastic inside their bodies
Dolphins have huge levels of toxins
95% of turtle nests are ravaged by foxes
30 koalas die on roads each year (and habitat and corridors are so fragmented)
And there are social issues

If I take people on nature based experiences, how am I supporting nature?

Can tourism be a solution to climate change as well as a contributor?

We have a captive audience we can influence to act more consciously.

How can we transform travellers to conscious travellers?

There are 350,000 tourism business in Australia – a massive collective world changing impact - if we all get on board

Let’s work on being sustainable from the top down and the bottom up.

What are the impacts and repercussions of having a good time?

I want to positively influence people - 75% of my customers’ reviews mention sustainability

I don’t tell, but show: We use reef safe sunscreen, don’t cause any plastic waste, support local, and support long term marine and land conservation.

I use a multifaceted approach to everything - not one thing alone. For example, to reduce waste, we turn the plastic we pick up off the beach into coasters and sell them, with the profit going to marine conservation.

I believe there is a solution to everything.

Learnings from the Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecare for SMEs, 18 months in

(Nadine Schramm, Ecotourism Australia)

Gaps:

Emissions reduction and measurement (54% of businesses don’t measure their emissions)
Green procurement/supply chain management
Sharing (credible) sustainability information in marketing and on websites
Accessibility
Professional development for staff, including training in sustainability and First Nations culture