CAS Trips, a full-service educational travel operator specialising in international school programmes, has announced a significant expansion of its climate transparency efforts: the organisation is now measuring on-trip carbon emissions across every destination it operates in.

101kg CO2e per traveller

As a signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, CAS Trips reports on its operational footprint, including Scope 1 and 2 emissions and internal staff travel, through its annual sustainability report. For the first time, the tour operator is tracking the carbon footprint of accommodation, food, and local transportation based on actual trip itineraries. According to current data based on sample itineraries for each destination, the average total on-trip emissions per person and itinerary are 101kg CO2e.

Each destination on the CAS Trips website carries its own emissions label, allowing schools to compare the carbon footprint of different trip options at a glance. Across all destinations, the average daily on-trip emissions are 17.1kg CO2e per person. This is broken down into 21% transportation, 33% food, 33% accommodation, and a buffer to account for any gaps in measurement.

To coincide with this announcement, CAS Trips has published a dedicated Climate Action webpage, providing schools with transparent, regularly updated information on the organisation’s emissions data, reduction efforts, and accountability commitments.

Publishing on-trip emissions isn’t a marketing exercise

“For schools and students who travel with us, we want every part of their experience to be educational. We know that travel has a climate impact. Our job is to understand that impact as clearly as possible, reduce it wherever we can, and take responsibility for what remains,” said Neil Brinckerhoff, Sustainability Manager of CAS Trips. “Publishing on-trip emissions data isn’t a marketing exercise. It’s a commitment to the schools and students who trust us. For young people learning to be global citizens, seeing that kind of transparency modeled by the adults organizing their travel matters.”

Reduce, Regenerate, Collaborate

Carbon measurement of this detail remains rare in the educational travel sector. CAS Trips’ approach, structured around three pillars of Reduce, Regenerate, and Collaborate, goes beyond offsetting to include active reduction strategies, supplier accountability, and a third party review of our measurement methodology.

Looking ahead, CAS Trips plans to measure all individual trips from 2026, giving detailed insights to update the destination labels and to give schools clearer data to inform their travel decisions.

CAS Trips was awarded the Travelife Certified Award in June 2024, becoming the first tour operator in the Czech Republic to receive the certification in recognition of its commitment to social and environmental sustainability.