*Ship-Based Expedition Travel Company Offsets 100% of Emissions*
NEW YORK, NY (June 7, 2019) — Lindblad Expeditions, a global leader in responsible tourism, announced today that they will become a carbon neutral company beginning in 2019. This announcement continues the company’s legacy in ecotourism, demonstrating their long-standing and growing commitment toward defining travel industry standards for sustainability and environmentally responsible operations. Lindblad’s announcement also supports National Geographic’s ongoing efforts to identify greenhouse gas emissions associated with its travel programs, and decrease that impact by offsetting carbon emissions that cannot be eliminated.
Lindblad Expeditions’ investments will effectively offset 100% of emissions from their ships (eight from the Lindblad-National Geographic fleet and five leased), all land-based operations, employee travel, offices in New York and Seattle, and additional small but measurable emission contributors.
“As a company, recognizing that global climate change is arguably the greatest threat humanity has ever faced, we all need to urgently step up our efforts whether big or small,” said Sven Lindblad, CEO and Founder of Lindblad Expeditions. “Our goal is to reduce and offset our carbon footprint, and to commit to carbon neutrality throughout the many layers of our business. It has become increasingly more apparent that we, human beings, and our planet which sustains us are out of balance. Climate change and its resulting impacts on global biodiversity and human health and livelihoods has provided a clarion call and awakening. The message is clear; we must rebalance and rebalance urgently.”
“We are thrilled with Lindblad’s commitment to be a carbon neutral company,” said Nancy Schumacher, EVP Travel and Tour Operations of National Geographic Partners. “We recognize that travel contributes to the overall human footprint that affects the Earth’s climate, and have been actively working to reduce this impact over the past decade, investing more than $1.5 million in verifiable carbon offset projects. We look forward to working together to spur further climate action.”
Working in partnership with South Pole, a leading developer of international emission reduction projects, Lindblad Expeditions now has a portfolio of six carbon project investments that align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. These investments focus on renewable energy (solar and wind), reforestation, and community-based projects in six countries, including Mexico, Peru, and Vietnam, countries that Lindblad-National Geographic travelers visit. South Pole requires independent third-party verification and regular monitoring of all projects in their portfolio to ensure they deliver the stated impacts and adhere to the highest internationally recognized standards. Further, South Pole ensures emission reductions are accurately measured and verified to deliver transparent annual public reporting.
Carbon neutrality joins a diverse portfolio of corporate sustainability programs recently expanded under the direction of Amy Berquist, Vice President of Conservation, Education, and Sustainability, at Lindblad Expeditions. “We are always looking for creative and meaningful ways to support the health of the environment and the people and ecosystems reliant on it,” Berquist states. “Committing to carbon neutrality is a natural extension of our core beliefs, especially in the face of increasing threats posed by climate change.”
This announcement is Lindblad Expeditions’ next major step in turning bold commitments into meaningful impacts, through a holistic and robust sustainability program. They successfully eliminated guest-facing single-use plastics fleetwide in 2018 and have operated a sustainable seafood program aboard the fleet for many years. Other related sustainability initiatives include building new ships that reduce emissions while increasing efficiency; mandating supply chain solutions to eliminate plastic; sourcing and serving local, organic produce; making crew uniforms from recycled plastic; and more.
Longstanding leaders in environmental stewardship, Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic have raised more than $17 Million since 1997 from their travelers in the regions they explore together. These voluntary traveler donations currently go toward conservation, education, research, storytelling, and technology projects funded by the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Fund, whose mission is to support the health and viability of our world’s oceans, coastlines, and coastal communities.
About Lindblad Expeditions
Lindblad Expeditions is an expedition travel company that works in partnership with National Geographic on its ship-based voyages to inspire people to explore and care about the planet. The organizations work in tandem to produce innovative marine expedition programs and to promote conservation and sustainable tourism around the world. The partnership’s educationally oriented voyages allow guests to interact with and learn from leading scientists, naturalists and researchers while discovering stunning natural environments, above and below the sea, through state-of-the-art exploration tools. As pioneers of global exploration, their collaboration in research, technology and conservation provides extraordinary travel experiences and disseminates geographic knowledge globally. Destinations include Galápagos, Antarctica, the Arctic & Russian Far East, Baja California, Alaska, Pacific Northwest, Costa Rica & Panama, the Amazon, Europe, French Polynesia & South Pacific, South America, Mediterranean, Caribbean, and beyond. For more information visit us at www.expeditions.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
About National Geographic Partners
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between Disney and the National Geographic Society, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic’s media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children’s media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 131 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
# # #
For images: From here you can view and download high resolution jpgs. Downloaded photos can only be used in conjunction with promoting Lindblad Expeditions and must include photographer copyright information.
Contact: Patty Disken-Cahill, Lindblad Expeditions, (212) 261-9081, [email protected]
Kelsey Taylor, National Geographic, (202) 912-6776, [email protected]