Intrepid recently re-certified as the world’s largest travel B Corp and established itself as an industry leader in balancing profit and purpose. But what is a B Corp, exactly, and why should travelers be looking to book with B Corp-certified operators in 2023?
Certified B Corporations are companies that look after their staff, work toward a more inclusive supply chain and take corporate social responsibility to the next level. For us, becoming a B Corp meant taking all the work we’ve already done—through both The Intrepid Foundation and our core operation—to the next level and conducting an extensive audit to ensure we meet the highest responsible business standards.
Earlier this year, we were named among B Corp’s Best For the World™. It was not only an incredible honor, but also recognition of all the hard work we’ve done to make Intrepid a force for good.
By booking your next adventure with a B Corp like Intrepid, you’ll be setting yourself up for an experience that’s as good for the world as it is for your soul. Here’s why.
We minimize the environmental impact of our adventures by traveling on local transport, using locally owned and operated ground services, offsetting every passenger’s on-trip carbon emissions, and purchasing carbon credits in a range of renewable energy projects around the world. And while offsetting is great, we’ve accepted that it isn’t enough; now, we’re on a mission to become climate positive, which means your Intrepid journey will one day remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it creates.
In order to cut emissions, we’ve also eliminated short-haul flights from our top 50 itineraries and replaced them with buses and trains. This not only lowers carbon emissions, but also makes for an immersive, slow-travel experience that allows you to truly appreciate the landscape you’re traveling through.
Rather than boosting profits for shareholders, B Corps are required to make decisions that benefit all stakeholders, and for a travel B Corp like Intrepid, those stakeholders include local communities on the ground. We design our trips to positively impact the communities hosting us, whether it’s through using local transport, leaders and guides, or by connecting with local organizations doing good in the community.
We also work with our philanthropic arm, The Intrepid Foundation, to raise money for carefully selected partners across the world. Since 2002, The Intrepid Foundation has raised more than AUD$12 million (USD$8 million) for over 130 partners, with Intrepid Travel absorbing all administration costs so that 100 per cent of donations can go straight to those in need.
Gender equality unfortunately remains a neglected issue worldwide, but the good news is that B Corps, according to 2020 data, are 68 per cent more likely to be majority women workers than ordinary businesses, and 19 per cent more likely to have equal average compensation between non-managing men and women workers.
Intrepid works with 1,250 staff and leaders from 65 countries and we’re proud to say that 60 per cent of them are women. Women are pushing for change in the travel industry, and we’re working hard to create new opportunities for female leaders, guides and porters on our trips. We also provide three weeks of parental leave for all staff, regardless of gender, which is a huge deal in many of the countries we travel to.
Becoming a B Corp is an incredibly complex process. To achieve our recent, high-scoring recertification, we examined our entire supply chain to ensure the thousands of companies we rely on to run amazing trips all over the world are just as committed to doing good as we are. There are plenty of sustainable travel certifications doing the rounds, some of which are created by the companies themselves, but by traveling with a B Corp, you can rest assured that there are no chinks in the supply chain. You may not be able to physically see how sustainable that supply chain is, but trust us when we say that after traveling with a B Corp, you’ll notice when it’s not.
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Like it when your travel plans are good for the world? You’ll love learning more about Intrepid’s B Corp journey.
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Adventure.com strives to be a low-emissions publication, and we are working to reduce our carbon emissions where possible. Emissions generated by the movements of our staff and contributors are carbon offset through our parent company, Intrepid. You can visit our sustainability page and read our Contributor Impact Guidelines for more information. While we take our commitment to people and planet seriously, we acknowledge that we still have plenty of work to do, and we welcome all feedback and suggestions from our readers. You can contact us anytime at hello@adventure.com. Please allow up to one week for a response.
Intrepid’s Editors are a diverse bunch. They include some of the world’s most experienced travel editors, travel writers and adventure journalists, from countries all over the world. What brings them together is a love of good stories, interesting people, and ethical adventure.
