As an online marketplace, we naturally operate in a low-emissions environment.
In 2023, 2022 and 2021 we used South Pole to calculate and verify our carbon emissions.
Emissions targets
Our targets focus on maintaining our low emissions.
We have set a target to obtain a Funding Climate Action label, as accredited by a reputable third party annually.
To comply with SBTI requirements, we needed to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% from 2021 base year. In 2022 we exceeded this, so we set a new target that goes beyond what is required under SBTI requirements for small to medium businesses. Our new annual target was set to maintain Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions below 30 tCO2e, which we proudly completed in 2023. In 2024 we will set a target for our scope 3 emissions.
Included in this, we account for a recovery of the business post-COVID-19 and future growth projections. Where we cannot eliminate what remains, we will make a verified climate investment to take responsibility for the balance.
Emissions journey, thus far
Scope 1 and 2 emissions have been reduced in 2023 to nominal volumes.
We moved to shared office locations across our office presence in Dublin, London, and Australia in 2022, and in Porto in Q1 2023.
Where employees work in an office, we have taken practical steps to reduce our environmental impact, including reducing our reliance on printing by promoting a paperless office environment, encouraging third parties to do everything electronically (including invoicing and contracting using DocuSign), putting provisions in place to promote recycling across all our office locations, focusing on energy and natural resource conservation e.g., our offices have stop taps for water consumption, controlled lighting and air conditioning.
To support flexible working and avoid emissions from commuting, we allow staff to work from home.
We will continue to monitor and make changes to keep our emissions low. Maintaining our current level of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions will be central to future strategic decisions.
In 2023 we became a signatory of The Climate Pledge. Founded by Global Optimism and Amazon, the pledge brings together a diverse group of global companies to accelerate climate action, and drive responsible change. As part of this, we commit to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, regularly report on our emissions, implement carbon elimination strategies and continue to offset remainders.
Funding climate action label
In 2023 we were accredited with the Funding Climate Action label by South Pole, which has evolved from the climate neutral label which was accredited to Hostelworld in 2021 and 2022. The label is granted following conforming with a reduction and offsetting strategy completed using the GHG Protocol, SBTi criteria, and PAS 2060 to ensure the highest climate standards were met.
To achieve the ‘Funding Climate Action’ label we complete the following process with South Pole’s guidance.
Quantify emissions: We quantified the emissions associated with our business and defined a strategy on how to minimise them. We set a target year to reach Net Zero, and outlined clear steps on how we will achieve it.
Commit to progress on a climate journey: In line with our strategy, we cut down our emissions across the whole business and demonstrated progress on our climate journey.
Make a verified climate contribution: We are supporting planet-focused projects outside of our business to further offset our emissions and reduce our carbon impact. We will capture leftover, hard-to-remove CO2 emissions when we are close to reaching our Net Zero target. This will allow us to achieve and claim Net Zero status.
Communicate our vision: We communicate our emissions vision and targets, which we review annually.
In 2023 the label evolved to Funding Climate Action. The Funding Climate Action label seeks to provide transparency on our decarbonisation efforts and investment in the climate action projects that fund global climate action and sustainable development.
Customer carbon credits
As well as focusing on our own emissions, in 2023 we launched customer carbon offsets. When booking through Hostelworld, our customers can now offset either their whole trip or half their trip and select a project of their preference.
Ensuring the credibility of carbon offsetting is important to us which is why we have partnered with Cloverly. This third-party expertise helps us ensure the projects we and our customers support make a real difference to the environment and people they serve to help. The projects are vetted by Cloverly’s climate experts and work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Carbon offsetting is not a long-term solution for the climate emergency, but it is something we and our customers can act on now to contribute towards a sustainable future.
The offset calculation
Offset amount = [number of nights] x [number of beds] x €3.00*
*From our research with Bureau Veritas, assuming that on average there are 3-4 beds per hostel room, we found that the average CO2e created per bed, per night, in a hostel was 0.25 tCO2e.
CO2e created per bed, per night, in a hostel was 0.25 tCO2e.
Average tonnes of CO2e per bed per night: 0.25
Cost of CO2e per tonne: 10.53GBP
Average Cost of Offset per night: 2.63GBP (10.53GBP x 0.25)
The technical detail
Scope 1 – All direct GHG emissions. Hostelworld has limited Scope 1 emissions. We do not have any company cars and do not own any buildings.
Scope 2 – All indirect emissions due to consumption of purchased electricity, steam, light and heating. We have two sources of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in 2023. We only have operational control over offices in Portugal and China. 99% of our Scope 1 and scope 2 emissions are made up of electricity in both countries. In both countries, electricity makes up more than 99% of Scopes 1 and 2 emissions.
Scope 3 – Hostelworld Scope 3 emissions are driven by purchased goods and services (primarily direct marketing costs and cloud costs), any capital goods purchased (e.g. laptops), employee business travel, employee commuting, and leased assets for our other locations.
The most significant contributor to Hostelworld’s total emissions is purchased goods, which make up 70% of total emissions (2022: 81%) of total emissions, primarily direct marketing services purchased from Google, Bing, Apple.
Our Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) emissions have been measured using the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting standards (revised edition), data gathered to fulfil the requirements under the CRC Energy Efficiency scheme, emission factors from Defra and UK Government conversion factors for Company Reporting (2018) to calculate the disclosures, where they are not separately disclosed by a supplier. Our emissions are impacted by the size of our business, which is driven by our global headcount and office footprint. Accordingly, we have chosen to use an intensity ratio measured on emissions per €m of net revenue to put the GHG in the appropriate context for the size of the business, and all related references to reductions are intensity-based emission reductions.
We are reporting on the emissions of CO2 generated by the business, and the energy consumed by the business. Given that Hostelworld does not have operational control over the hostels on its platform and does not have access to data points on customers’ means of travel, emissions produced by hostels and customers travelling to hostel destinations are not included in the footprint.
[2] To be accredited with a Funding Climate Action certification an organisation needs to measure their material emissions associated with their operations in line with GHG protocol, set a reduction target aligned with near-term science-based target requirements, finance climate action equivalent for any residual emissions through certified climate action credits, and disclosure all details transparently. Hostelworld’s label for 2023, 2022 and 2021 was awarded by South Pole. Website: www.southpole.com
