carbonneutraltourism.co.uk

The Paris public bicycle programme celebrates its first anniversary this week.    Within the past year the 16,000 bicycles have been used approximately 27 million times, with an average trip lasting 22 minutes.

I was lucky enough to be invited on Eurostar’s first journey from St Pancras International station to Paris and to a lunch hosted by Friends of the Earth. The new high speed route knocks approximately 15 minutes off of the old journey time.

Eurostar are leading the way in addressing the environmental concerns of passengers. Earlier in the year they launched ‘Tread Lightly’, their green strategy, and Eurostar’s Chief Executive Richard Brown commented: “We don’t have all the answers but we do know that a high-speed Eurostar journey is 10 times greener than flying – and that Eurostar can be greener still. People want to minimise their impact on the environment, and our aim is to help passengers tread lightly when they travel.”

Eurostar have launched an number of environmental initiatives which address wider environmental concerns:

• Installing driver energy advice systems on trains to help drivers drive as economically as possible
• Fitting new controls for train lighting, heating and air-conditioning to reduce power consumption
• Working with suppliers, particularly Eurotunnel and Network Rail, to source cleaner electricity supplies
• Making even better use of train capacity
• Designing energy efficiency into the mid-life re-engineering of the train fleet
• All Eurostar journies are carbon neutral
• Eurostar are also working with Friends of the Earth

THOUSANDS of skiers will soon be dusting down their salopettes and dashing off in search of the biggest snowfall.

And doubtless the impact of our carbon footprint will be about as far down the list of holiday musts as a turkey sandwich after Christmas.

But last year, a slow snowfall hit the headlines and holidaymakers panicked about the smattering of flakes melting almost as soon as they landed.

Family-run online skiing company Chalet1802, based at the foot of Mount Blanc in the French Alps, is one of the first independent firms to go carbon negative and give skiers an environmentally-friendly choice when booking their ski trip.

Chalet1802 owner, Matthew Dale said: “Last year was a bit of a shock with the warmest winter in 50 years in France. It was mild and the snow didn’t settle, so a lot of the early skiing season in the Alps was patchy. We decided to go carbon negative to help preserve the ski resort.”

Partners, Matthew and Charlotte Richardson, both 27, moved to Chamonix from Devon four years ago. They set-up the company using Matthew’s parents chalet in nearby Les Houches as a starting point for the fledgling business.

After months of construction the couple have built up a successful skiing company with luxury holidays appealing to foodies and serious skiers. And they insist luxury does not have to come with a hefty environmental price tag.

They collect fire wood from their own land, on the slopes of the famous Kandahar piste - home to the World Cup downhill slalom - and they have installed double-glazing, efficient wood burners, new boilers, dual flow toilets, energy efficient bulbs and purchase all their electricity from carbon free sources.

The Farmhouse chalet is decked out in re-claimed oak and thick insulation traps the heat in. The paperless company also recycles chalet waste including around 2, 000 bottles a year and staff are trained in environmental practices - a window left open overnight in winter wastes enough energy to drive a car 35 miles.

Charlotte said: “We are not trying to dictate to guests but we feel it’s important to give them the choice without increasing the price of the holiday. If they book with us they can more than off-set their carbon footprint and we absorb the extra costs. Of course we still have a sauna and a hot tub - people want luxury but not at the expense of the environment, so we looked at ways of lessening the impact of someone flying over here for a holiday.”

The company have also linked up with charity Climate Care, which tackles climate change by making carbon dioxide reductions on behalf of individuals and companies.

For more information on carbon negative skiing holidays offered by Chalet1802 visit www.chalet1802.co.uk.

Les Cygnes, which offers guests a choice of three luxury gites in the Poitou-Charentes region of France, have a strong commitment to the environment. In terms of the carbon footprint generated by guests they state:

“Like many people we here are extremely concerned about the protection of the environment. This year we are asking guests to help reduce their carbon footprint by planting trees, which will over time absorb your carbon dioxide emissions.

This can be achieved in 2 ways:
1 - A donation to Les Cygnes will plant trees on our land to help create a wooded area to help erase the carbon usage in traveling to and staying in our gites. A medium sized car with an average return journey of 1200 miles will be 1 tree (the cost of the tree can be added to your holiday cost or donated when you arrive at Les Cygnes). Each return flight to France will be 1 tree. We will only plant trees indigenous to our area like, chestnut, oak, lime etc.

A tree will cost 10 Euros and will be planted on our land in October or November to maximise its chances of survival. Each tree will labeled with the name of the person or family that donated it and covered by a sapling protector.

Or

2 - A donation to a charity involved in helping to erase carbon footprints.

• erasemyfootprint
• mycarbondebt
• puretrust

At Les Cygnes we are taking steps to help reduce our impact on our surroundings and create a more environmentally friendly future.

Here at Les Cygnes we help by:

• Recycle all recyclable materials
• Compost all organic waste
• We have planted over 250 local shrubs to help negate our carbon footprint.
• Heat our properties with wood taken from sustainable sources
• Have insulated to better than recommended levels, this ensures heat retention during winter months (reducing the need for heating) and ensures a cooler environment during summer months, reducing the need for air conditioning.
• Double glazed all our windows and doors.
• Recuperate rainwater and have installed a 12,000 litre tank for gardening use.
• Are investigating the use of alternative energy sources, wind, solar, geothermal
• We are committed to becoming as energy self sufficient as possible within 5 years.”

To find out more about Les Cygnes please visit their website.