Offsetting your holiday
Through working with Tree-Nation, we are offsetting our CO2 emissions as a business to become a carbon-neutral villa company. We want to bring you with us on our journey, so that's why...
For this calculation, we have taken the average CO2 emitted from one of our villa stays (250kg) and worked with Tree-Nation to develop a program that plants enough trees to capture that same amount of CO2 and more.
Want to learn more? Head to our Sustainable Travel page and read all about our efforts to combat climate change.
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Offsetting Your Holiday
Who are Tree-Nation?
Tree-Nation is a tree-planting initiative and non-profit company that allows businesses and citizens alike to offset their CO2 emissions by planting trees around the world.
They're on a mission to reforest the world, as it's been proven that planting trees is one of the most efficient ways to combat the effects of climate change. This is due to how the trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere, storing it in their biomass.
However, there are so many other reasons why this is a worthwhile cause. Trees also:
- Provide habitat, shade and shelter for local wildlife, helping to prevent species loss.
- Produce products that local communities can sell, including fruits and nuts.
- Help to purify air and water sources, aiding the health of those who live near them.
- Make us feel better by having a positive impact on everyday mental health.
But why did we pick Tree-Nation in particular? Since 2007, they've been an official partner of the UNEP, and have already helped over 4000 companies by planting more than 21 million trees across 6 continents. In short, they're as wide-reading as our collection of villas!
They also use technology to break the barrier of distance between sponsors and tree projects, inventing the virtual tree and online forest in a bid to raise awareness and further their sustainable efforts. This allows you to track how many trees we've planted already, as well as see where those we've planted on your behalf are located.
Why did we go for a Tree-Planting Initiative?
Since 2022 we’ve worked with #tree-nation and are proud to have planted almost 20,000 trees, reforested almost 10 hectares of forest globally and reduced more than 1,500 tons of CO2.
The carbon absorption ability of trees is completely natural, far exceeding the pace of man-made carbon removal technologies. The act of planting also involves local communities and provides them with fresh produce they can sell instead of trees.
However, even as we continue that good work with Tree-Nation, tree planting is only part of our wider sustainability efforts. You can read more about our journey so far here.
Where did our calculations come from?
- Average CO2 emitted per villa holiday = 250kg
- Average CO2 captured per planted mangrove tree = 40-50kg
Since 2019 we have worked with Ecollective (an independent sustainable consultancy) to try and calculate the carbon footprint of our villas - no easy feat when working with properties as unique as our own!
We did this by collecting data on the typical energy use of the properties when someone was staying in them. With this information, we were able to calculate the CO2 emissions of each property using emission factors, which are dependent on the energy providers used or the country the property is situated in. When information was not given to us, we relied on data from DEFRA, IEA and other sources.
When it comes to carbon calculating, most businesses take the easy way out - they make simple and vastly questionable assumptions in order to save time. As part of our study, we decided to go more in-depth to find out which aspects were driving climate change, so we would know where to focus our attention.
Some of the factors considered included the use of air-conditioning, heated swimming pools, recycling and composting rates, waste management systems, the size of the property, the season it was frequently used in, and the national energy suppliers’ fuel mix to name a few.
Every property is different, but the average booking for 2022 resulted in 250kg of CO2 and we continue to adjust our tree-planting goals to fit this new measurement.
