A Tour Operator's Climate Action Journey

Race to Net Zero and Beyond: Tour Operator Climate Action Examples by Panoramic Journeys

Interview with Karina Moreton, Co-Founder and Impact Producer at Panoramic Journeys, sharing the tour operator's climate action efforts.
Karina Moreton
Karina Moreton

Co-Founder & Impact Producer at Panoramic Journeys

TrainingAid
TrainingAid

Expert Team at TrainingAid

Panoramic Journeys Interview Karina Moreton
Photo by Panoramic Journeys

Scaling Climate Solutions

A key part of TrainingAid’s climate commitments is helping strengthen knowledge sharing opportunities focused on climate solutions. As such, we are pleased to share this interview with Karina Moreton, Co-Founder and Impact Producer at Panoramic Journeys, who has been working on scaling climate solutions through her work on grassroots experiences, film production and climate collaborations.  

Interview: Karina Moretons, Panoramic Journeys

Panoramic Journeys has declared a climate emergency, with an ambitious goal of becoming climate positive. Why is it important to Panoramic Journeys, and why is it important to you?

Karina: Like many others who have experienced the impact of the climate crisis first hand, we are compelled to do all we can to scale up climate action. We have friends who lost their villages in cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, friends who lost loved ones in flash floods in Mongolia, and friends living in fear of glacial melt flooding their valleys in Bhutan.
 
That’s why, as mentioned in our climate action plan, we are committed to being a climate positive company and to proactively scaling up climate action through the work that we do. We believe that through arranging film shoots, climate collaborations and climate positive journeys, we can deepen empathy and thereby spark and scale climate action.

 

Please share what your journey - racing to zero and beyond - has been like so far. What have been some of the most positive and inspiring aspects of the journey?

Karina: There is a buzz amongst all the good people striving to learn and act at this critical time. This COVID period has seen online collaboration across the planet and between sectors. From B-Corp summits to Tourism Declares educational sessions, to countless podcasts on topics related to climate action, there is a sense of people sharing and working together.
 
We are proud to stand among other forward-thinking organisations and individuals in declaring a climate emergency, and we are committed to making it our priority in all decisions we make.

 

And what have you found most challenging?

Karina: We have been focusing our attention on shifting our offerings completely in order to vastly reduce our Scopes 1-3 emissions. Needing to simultaneously establish baseline measurements whilst working with stakeholders struggling with COVID has been hard.

 

From your perspective, why should tourism businesses care about the climate crisis? What would you advise other businesses that are not yet actively engaged?

Karina: I believe that all individuals and organisations need to act now to curtail global temperature increases and tackle this existential crisis. The question is more, how can tourism businesses justify their carbon emissions?
 
I have struggled with this question and found Sir David Attenborough’s quote most helpful “No one will protect what they don't care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”
 
I would encourage all in the tourism sector to scrutinise not only what they can do to reduce emissions but what they can do to enable their partners and guests to engage with the issues first hand and to inspire them to engage fully with the inspiring solutions that already exist.

 

Is it possible to prioritize climate action while remaining competitive as a tourism business?

Karina: We have always attracted guests who are searching for authentic, responsible, ethical and sustainable offerings. I am hopeful that climate awareness reaches beyond this niche and that tourism businesses not transparently addressing their impact will be under pressure soon from the market and media to put climate action at the top of their agendas.

 

What’s next for Panoramic Journeys in your journey towards climate positivity?

Karina: There is nothing quite like having no clients to vastly reduce a travel company's carbon footprint! We have been using this time to focus on inspiring climate action through film projects using local crews.
When the Trans-Mongolian Railway is running again, we will be inviting change makers from across sectors to have a 3-week overland sabbatical to and from Mongolia. Invitees will be supported and encouraged whilst using this time to brainstorm and complete their Impact Assessment, Climate Emergency Plan and to set their Science-Based Targets.