Can you introduce yourself and your role at Skyscanner?
Hello! I’m Alix Farr, the Sustainability Lead at Skyscanner. I ended up at Skyscanner because of my passion for travel, and I ended up in this role because of my desire to ensure that that passion is compatible with a healthy planet. I deeply believe that those of us who love exploring the world have a responsibility to look after it for future generations.
Can you tell us a bit about Skyscanner’s sustainability strategy and how SAF features into it?
Skyscanner’s sustainability strategy is built around three pillars: Internal (how we operate our business), Traveller (how we enable travellers with the tools and information they need to make more sustainable travel choices), and Industry (how we collaborate with others in the industry to amplify the call to action and drive sustainable solutions at scale). You can read more about this strategy in our just-released Climate Action Plan here.
SAF is most prominently part of our Internal pillar, as we believe it’s key to being able to reduce the impact of our own corporate travel, but really it will play a role across the whole strategy. We know that putting our voice behind SAF is an important component of our Industry pillar, and we also want to be able to educate our travellers in the future about the role SAF can play in decarbonising aviation.
In your opinion, what are some of the key trends and developments in travel that companies should be aware of in the coming years, and how can they prepare for them?
I’d say one trend that we expect to see is more rigidity and accountability around corporate sustainability strategies. Where once definitions of concepts like “Net Zero” and “Carbon Neutral” were loosely defined, we are now aligning around more concrete standards that will make it easier to hold businesses to account. This will absolutely affect travel, with travel businesses like airlines and hotels needing to ensure these standards are met and communicated, and travellers themselves becoming more savvy about how to choose more sustainable options. Likewise with corporate travel strategies, sustainability policies will be scrutinised to a greater degree, so it’s important for businesses to align with credible standards like science-based targets.
Another we’re hoping to see is more collaboration around sustainability information. We believe that sustainability data should be open source and freely shared, so that it is increasingly the case that we see consistent and trustworthy data across the travel industry where before this data was fractured and confusing. For example, as part of our work with sustainable travel non-profit Travalyst, we’ve aligned on a standardised aviation emissions model, called the Travel Impact Model. The hope is to build this data into as many leisure and corporate travel platforms as possible, so that travellers can build trust in the carbon emissions information they see. For businesses with corporate travel programs, this will mean using trustworthy data sources for reporting, but also ensuring that employees are empowered to understand this information and use it practically in their booking decisions.
To find out more about Skyscanner’s sustainability strategy, you can visit their Sustainability page.
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