Avella's Climate Consciousness

Climate change is the term commonly used when talking about global warming. The Earth is like a giant greenhouse, but instead of glass panes trapping the heat, it has gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. As the sun's rays shine on the Earth, this blanket of gases (Earth's atmosphere) traps in some of the heat and keeps the planet at a relatively constant temperature. Without it, the Earth would either get too hot or too cold.

When greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere by human activity – such as burning fossil fuels and clearing land – it's as if we’re adding extra ‘glass layers’ to the greenhouse, ultimately raising the temperature inside. If we don't reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there's a risk that the Earth will heat to a level that could seriously affect life on our planet. For the latest scientific observations of climate change, visit the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's website.

Carbon neutral means taking action to reduce and remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as an organization puts into it. Being carbon neutral means that an organization has a carbon footprint equal to zero.

Our trips are low impact by design. How? We use public transport where possible, stay in locally owned and simpler styles of accommodation, and eat at locally owned eateries where the food has been locally sourced, therefore reducing food mile emissions.

As part of our Carbon Management Program, (we measure our electricity, gas, paper waste,  flight emissions; aim to reduce and be more resource efficient and then offset the rest) we offset the carbon emissions from our business office and the emission created on our trips.

Through these offsets, significant monetary contributions are made on behalf of our business, suppliers, staff and TrAvellas to internationally certified carbon abatement projects.

Also, to minimize carbon emissions on our trips, we make the following considerations:

• Local services: We engage locally owned and operated services, thereby supporting local people and avoiding the use of long, carbon-intensive supply chains.
• Local transport: We use local public transport wherever we can to reduce fuel usage per passenger.
• Water Conservation: We support initiatives that encourage conservative use of water and hot water, such as low-flow shower hoses.
• Local food and goods: We endeavor to include, and strongly encourage our TrAvellas to eat, locally produced food and goods. This reduces the 'embodied energy' (energy consumed through production and transport) of the food and goods purchased by our passengers.
• Water bottles: The production of a one-litre plastic bottle takes two litres of water and 200 millilitres of oil. So for every one litre of water sold, three litres of water is used. We encourage our passengers to refill a water bottle from water purifiers where available to avoid unnecessary purchasing of bottled water and subsequent waste disposal issues.
• Economic empowerment: Economic empowerment of local communities through tourism can help improve education, health services, water supplies and sanitation, and reduce dependence on non-sustainable livelihoods such as deforestation.
• Local employment: We employ local leaders and guides so that we learn about other cultures and ways of life directly from those who live it – and it puts money into local hands and the economy. We can particularly learn from indigenous rural communities about their relationship to the land and how they've practiced sustainable agriculture for centuries.
• Recycling: Avella Sights staff educate our TrAvellas about how they can practice principles of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ and dispose appropriately of waste in their particular destination.

• We are making plans to use 100% Green Power energy (where available) in our offices.
• We observe 'reduce, reuse and recycle' policies when it comes to our paper usage. All office paper and paper products are recycled where possible, and we are also looking into purchasing sustainably sourced paper. Double-sided printing is the default setting on all printers.
• We have implemented a Waste Management System in many of our offices which has dramatically reduced what we send to landfill and maximized what goes off for recycling.
• We're conscious that our brochures consume a lot of paper, so since inception, we've decided to have an annual tree-planting day. 
• We have reviewed our lighting and have successfully 'de-lamped' unnecessary bulbs.
• We have regular presentations for staff on sustainability matters as waste reduction, and ethically sourced paper.
• We encourage our staff to walk or cycle to work. We also encourage the use of public transport.
• Our office sets emission reduction targets yearly, and implements initiatives to meet these targets.

• Carbon offsetting is an internationally recognized way for organizations to manage the carbon emissions that cannot be eliminated entirely and become carbon neutral. 

  These carbon emissions are canceled by investing in projects that reduce or remove emissions. 

  Avella Sights sets out to invest in projects around Uganda that reduce or remove carbon from the atmosphere to offset the emissions that we cannot eliminate. In as much as the global percentage of emissions by the African continent is at a low 4%, Africa suffers the most dire consequences because of our adaptive incapacities in terms of the different resources. Therefore, the projects we invest in are providing economic/social/environmental benefits to communities, as well as reducing emissions.

The carbon offsetting cost is embedded in the price of the trip – so our TrAvellas have no additional fee to worry about. Even with the offset included, these trips are still competitive, ensuring you get the best price for a fantastic grassroots adventure with a reduced environmental impact.

Greenhouse gas emissions generated as a result of stationary energy use, transportation and waste generation and disposal are assessed in accordance with the GHG Protocol, an initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and World Resources Institute (WRI). 

Information relating to energy use, waste generation and disposal rates are based on data provided by Sustainability Victoria and the United Nations Statistics Division. Emission factors are derived from a number of sources, including the Department of Climate Change (DCC), Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change and the World Resource Institute.

Greenhouse gases include methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons, but the most commonly referred to greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO2) – thus CO2 has become the standard measure of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases are released every time we turn on the light at home, switch on our computer, take a flight or drive a car.

There are more of us now than ever before, emitting more greenhouse gases than our atmosphere can handle, so it's important we all make some simple and achievable changes to reduce our emissions. Climate change is happening right now and we need to take action RIGHT NOW. We can all do this by making simple changes in our lives to reduce our carbon emissions. 

Lowering your carbon footprint helps reduce the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise and extreme weather events. Many small individual emission reduction activities together add up to a large total reduction. Lowering the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere limits the greenhouse effect which in-turn reduces climate variability.

Each Avella Sights trip offers our TrAvellas a local, authentic, sustainable and carbon-offset experience. TrAvellas don’t have to worry about additional fees for carbon offsetting, as the offset cost is already included in the cost of the trip.

All flights that are included in our trip (including to and from the trip) itineraries are offset. As direct emissions from transport make up most emissions when travelling, carbon offsetting this component of our tours is vital.

In addition to being carbon neutral, Avella Sights has committed to removing additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through decarbonization, specifically through reductions in emissions from our trips and operations.

For us, it’s not a matter of stopping travelling. It’s about changing the way we travel. After all, what is seeing the sunrise over Bwindi if there’s no cloud forest? What is travel without the Kidepo plains or the dominant Murchison falls? We believe that it’s our responsibility to help preserve the planet for the next generation of TrAvellas and the communities that call these places home.

Find out more about our specific climate commitments by checking out our five-point commitment plan.

We can all make a difference, if we do it now.  Even if you feel as though governments are ignoring the warning signs, it doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t make a difference. We can all vote with our wallets by supporting NGOs and businesses who prioritize the environment; we can all join a climate change group, or even pick up a placard in protest; we can all keep learning and educating ourselves; we can all continue to reduce and reuse in our everyday lives.

While the issue of climate change might feel overwhelmingly big, we want you to know that solutions do exist. But it’s up to us to stand together and embrace those solutions to help save the planet.

Avella Sights believes in avoiding single use plastic where possible and ask our TrAvellas to do the same and bring a reusable water bottle. However, sometimes water must be bought in order to access safe water.

Based on the facts we know today; we’d be lying to ourselves if we were to continue as though there is nothing wrong with the travel industry. We declared a Climate Emergency in May 2023, together with a group of other businesses, organizations and individuals in the tourism industries. Our climate emergency is underpinned by five-point commitment plan. We passionately believe that it is the responsibility (and obligation) of businesses, like Avella Sights, to do whatever we can to limit global warming to 1.5C in the next decade. Climate change is everyone's business and businesses need to be a part of the solution. Part of our commitment plan is creating a climate positive company in the future. This means, we’re creating environmental benefits by removing additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and decarbonizing our business by reducing emissions from our trips and operations.