IMPACT REPORT
World Challenge Impact Report 2021
2021
2021 ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT
World Challenge Impact Report 2021
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I
t may seem like an unusual time to release our first annual impact report - coming to the end of what has been the longest, quietest period for international travel in all our decades of operation. This certainly means that the content included here differs a little from what we hope to report in future years, but we didn’t want to wait any longer to start sharing progress. In doing so we hope to lay strong foundations for future reports, in what we hope will be, many, much more ‘normal’ years to come! During this disrupted time, whilst we haven’t been focused, as we usually would, on operating trips, we’ve been setting up our programme, trips, and operations for success when travel resumes. A great amount of evolution has occurred; from becoming the world’s first climate positive educational travel company to the launch of our online pre-departure learning programme, and the introduction of domestic itineraries in Australia and New Zealand. Moving forwards, we plan to release reports annually, in which we will transparently share our impact across three key areas -
1. 2. 3.
The success of our programme and trips in delivering our educational outcomes, and the impact this has on travellers’ personal development The impact of our community initiatives with regards to engaging students on important global issues, and supporting local communities to further their goals The size of our carbon footprint, how it has been mitigated though offsetting and reforestation programmes, and how we’re progressing towards our reduction targets
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DELIVERING OUR EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES In 2021 we launched our online pre-departure learning programme for travellers. The content has been designed to provide learning around three pillars – Global Citizenship, Personal Growth and Wellbeing. Sessions provide a foundation of understanding which can then be advanced through experiences on the students’ trips. Underpinning the programme are the following six educational outcomes.
Students will gain a greater understanding of how to act for a more sustainable future, at both local and global levels.
Students will be empowered to build on their self-care strategies, enhancing their physical and mental wellbeing.
Students will be immersed in different cultures and experiences, growing to understand their role within our global community.
Students will experience and reflect on the power of being pushed outside of their comfort zone, allowing the development of initiative, confidence, and resilience.
Students will be challenged to think critically about topical issues that affect our past, present and future around the world.
Students will build a deeper connection to their own identity & personal values, developing their independence and sense of self.
WHAT DO THE SESSIONS UNDER EACH PILLAR COVER? The content is varied, allowing students to tap into the topics that interest them most, or are particularly relevant to the style of trip or destination to which they will travel. A few examples:
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
PERSONAL GROWTH
WELLBEING
Modules cover topics like how to travel in a responsible way, what the UN Sustainable Development Goals are, Orphanage Tourism and Climate Change.
Modules challenge students to explore their comfort zones, leadership skills and consider how to build confidence and resilience.
Modules investigate selfcare strategies, how to manage stress and identify personal values.
World Challenge Impact Report 2021
3 6
1. GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP 2. PERSONAL GROWTH 3. WELLBEING
PILLARS
EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
MODULES
24 346 PRACTICAL SESSIONS
TEAMS WITH ACCESS TO LEARNING CONTENT
NEXT STEPS
In 2022 we will begin to monitor the impact of our learning programme and trips against our educational outcomes and will include this data in future years’ impact reports
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COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
83 27 ORGANISATIONS
The continued impact of the pandemic on travel has meant that, sadly, we have not visited any of our initiative partners in 2021. We have however, over the past two years welcomed lots of new organisations to our network. We are currently partnered with 83 organisations around the world, operating over 130 programme sites, all of which have passed our ethics and sustainability audit.
DESTINATIONS
In 2022 we look forward to hitting the ground with as many of these organisations as possible so that our students can learn more about their important work and its impact on people and planet in their destination.
65% COMMUNITY
35%
133 INITIATIVES
CONSERVATION
1
LEARNING AND COLLABORATION ON
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 06
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CLIMATE ACTION PLAN
This year we got serious about our approach to tackling the climate crisis – read our CLIMATE ACTION PLAN to find out more. We’re committed to transparently reporting progress against our targets in this area each year. To track and contextualise that progress, we first calculated our emissions baseline, looking back to 2019, the last year in which we operated ‘normally’. This process was completed in partnership with expert consultants at ‘Carbon Responsible’, to ensure accuracy and completeness.
2019 Our Carbon Footprint in
3%
OFFICES & STAFF
527 tonnes
77%
CUSTOMER FLIGHTS
12,111 tonnes
20% TRIPS
3,159 tonnes
TOTAL 15,797 TONNES OF EMISSIONS GENERATED
Offices & Staff 59 KG
Per passenger This metric allows us to compare our annual emissions without the totals being swayed by the number of travellers we take overseas, so we can compare future years to the baseline more accurately.
World Challenge Impact Report 2021
Trips 355 KG Total
1,777
KG Per travelling passenger Customer flights 1,363 KG
This past year was far from normal, offices were, for the most part closed, staff travel was restricted by lockdowns, and only one trip travelled. The departure that operated was a domestic itinerary in Australia, meaning that flight emissions were a portion of what they would have been on international routes. It’s therefore difficult to draw comparisons between our emissions in 2021 and those from 2019. As such, we’ll look more closely at how our reductions are tracking in 2022 but will still share an overview of 2021 below. Our calculations and offsets for this year were verified by Carbon Footprint who awarded us ‘Carbon Neutral Verification’.
2021 Our Carbon Footprint in
62%
OFFICES & STAFF
28.1 tonnes
30%
CUSTOMER FLIGHTS
13.7 tonnes
8% TRIPS
3.6 tonnes
TOTAL 45.4 TONNES OF EMISSIONS GENERATED
Offices & Staff 1,563 KG Trips 198 KG Total
2,521 KG Per travelling passenger
Customer flights 760 KG
Per passenger
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OFFSETTING AND REFORESTATION In April 2021, we announced that we were becoming Climate Positive - offsetting 100% of our emissions and planting five trees for every traveller. This allows us to mitigate our impact on the climate crisis, whilst implementing strategies to reduce our emissions. We decided to backdate the commitment to October 1st 2020 and offset the emissions for a whole year. Our position was verified by Carbon Footprint who have confirmed our carbon neutral (plus reforestation) status.
In 2021 we offset 46 tonnes of emissions through our partners at Ecologi and planted 90 trees:
1. 2. 3.
46 tonnes of emissions were offset to neutralise 100% of the emissions generated by our business from October 1st 2020 to September 30th 2021 This included offsetting the impact of radiative forcing from flights. Science suggests that emissions generated at altitude have a more severe impact on the clime, almost twice (1.9x) that of emissions generated at sea-level 90 trees planted – that’s 5 for each of the 18 passengers that travelled with us
World Challenge Impact Report 2021
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REDUCING OUR EMISSIONS The focus this year was on measurement, which gave us a strong foundation from which to identify ways to reduce our emissions. Here’s a summary of the steps we’ve taken so far:
1.
Our first annual itinerary review was completed and average emissions on our trip itineraries were reduced by 10%. This was a saving of, on average, 1.4kg of emissions per passenger per night of travel. On a fourweek expedition, for example, this would equate to more than half a tonne of emissions being avoided by a team of 15 or more travellers
2.
We digitised our pre-departure programme, a result of the pandemic which has also allowed our staff to avoid significant amounts of road, rail and air travel. In 2019 this, including hotel stays, accounted for 848 tonnes of emissions, in 2021 it was <1
3.
We transitioned our training expeditions to training days, further contributing to reducing staff travel, and meaning that schools no longer need to travel off-site for this element of the programme
4.
We’ve implemented processes to review emissions alongside flight bookings, prioritising more efficient routes where they are viable and affordable
World Challenge Impact Report 2021
NEXT STEPS 1.
2.
We’re working to further adapt the way we work and the itineraries we run to meet our target of reducing the emissions generated by our trips, staff, and offices by 50% by 2028, two years ahead of recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2022 we aim to reduce the average emissions of our trip itineraries by a further 10% When it comes to the emissions generated by our customer flights, we’re aware that the aviation industry has targets to reduce these, aligned to developments in alternative, more sustainable fuel sources. Whilst we eagerly await progress in that industry, we’ll continue to prioritise more efficient options where we can, including emissions as a key point for review alongside cost, timing and availability when selecting which option to book for each team
CO2 013
THANK YOU
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