How the travel industry works with CHOOOSE to build back better

November 9, 2020

News

While most parts of the world are closed, the travel industry works to build back better and prepare for the day when the world reopens. This is how world-leading travel enterprises use CHOOOSE technology to enable their customers to opt-in on climate.

Empty hotels, beaches, and airports. Covid has undoubtedly had a significant impact on the travel industry. According to Eurocontrol, the organization that manages flight networks across Europe, over 31,000 flights travel back and forth across the continent on a typical day. While on the 24th of April 2020, there were just 4,254 flights up in the air, resulting in an 87% drop compared to the same day in 2019.

Carbon emissions from commercial aviation currently account for 2% of global emissions and are set to increase by 300% by 2050. It is important to recognize the impact flying has on the environment, but the solution is not necessarily to stop traveling but to travel differently.

Re-emerging more responsibly

Over the recent year, we’ve seen a significant increase of global airlines on a mission to lead the global transformation to a better future of travel, looking for ways to be part of the solutions. And with few zero-emission aircraft in near sight, we need to address the emissions related to transportation. But despite an accelerating consumer willingness to pay for climate compensated travel, businesses have lacked the tools and expertise to deliver the solutions. And the brutal fact is that in 2019, less than 1% of global emissions were neutralized.

CHOOOSE is on a mission to accelerate this number through mass-market integration by making climate action available for everyone. By building the API for Climate (also known as CHOOOSE Connect), any company can now become a part of the solution and invite their customers to protect the environment by addressing their carbon footprint of flights, accommodation, ground transportation, and more.

“We want to collaborate with companies who challenge the status quo and those who are willing to use state-of-the-art technology solutions to positively affect their climate impact by taking responsibility for the elephant in the room - namely the remaining CO2 footprint that can not be removed based on today's technology,” says Andreas Slettvoll, CEO at CHOOOSE.

CHOOOSE Connect is a digital tool that delivers everything a company needs to integrate climate action into their customer experiences - including calculations, climate solutions, analytics, design, reporting, communication with end-consumer, and more.

Leading travel enterprises like Bidroom, Lonely Planet, Withlocals, Wizz Air, Norwegian, Heathrow Airport, and Skyscanner use CHOOOSE technology to implement climate compensation into their checkout, in-app, or anywhere they meet their customers.

How Skyscanner uses CHOOOSE technology to make travel better

The CHOOOSE Connect APIs automatically calculates the carbon footprint of travel or accommodation and provides customers with the option to compensate for their travel footprint. One of the CHOOOSE Connect partners is Skyscanner, who uses the climate-API to enable their passengers to address their flight’s carbon emissions during checkout on Skyscanner’s Direct Booking platform. During a seamless integration in the booking journey, travelers can now get direct access to support some of the most impactful climate solutions worldwide and choose to offset their flight’s carbon emissions by making a small donation. If selected, this gets added to the final payment.

CHOOOSE Connect supports a broad range of carbon calculations, spanning from travel and shipping to finance and people. For airlines like Skyscanner, the API means that they can calculate the passenger’s carbon footprint based on the actual vessel type of fuel, travel distance, loading capacity, or most types of air cargo.

From selecting verified solutions, ranging from renewable energy, nature-based solutions, and sustainable aviation fuels, Skyscanner has the flexibility to select a climate solution to power its climate compensation program and optimize the portfolio over time.

Project selection examples by Skyscanner include creating more efficient, greener cooking stoves in Myanmar, distributing clean water filters in Cambodia, building small-scale hydropower plants in Honduras, and installing a sustainable wind farm in Costa Rica.

CHOOOSE supports its partners with secure integration in multiple languages, currencies, and payment methods so that companies can enable customers wherever they are. The Skyscanner solution is now live in native languages across more than 25 markets.

With advanced analytics, Skyscanner can track and optimize their program’s performance, giving a better understanding of how their customers respond to the climate program.

Partners of CHOOOSE can even invite their customers to engage with their impact through a logged-in experience post-purchase through MyCHOOOSE- providing complete transparency.

Other sustainable initiatives by Skyscanner

Skyscanner is also a founding member of Travalyst, a global initiative led by the Duke of Sussex, including fellow global industry leaders like Trip.com Group, TripAdvisor, Booking.com, and Visa. The partners come together for their shared passion for travel and believe it can be a real force for good.

Their ‘Greener Choice’ flight labels, represented as green leaf symbols, show travelers searching on Skyscanner which flights emit less CO2 than the average for that route. This classification is based on the type of aircraft, the number of stops, and the seating capacity, so travelers can make an informed decision. Last year, 11 million people selected a Greener Choice flight.

The carbon offsetting program is an important part of leading the global transformation to a better future of travel. The program is well received and recognized by Margaret Kim, CEO at the Gold Standard:

Are you looking for ways to integrate climate action into your customer journey?

CHOOOSE Connect provides everything you need to deliver seamless, high-impact climate compensation options to your customers — directly in your e-commerce checkout or consumer application. Carbon calculations, carbon offset calculators, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, seamless API integration, customer-friendly interfaces, and reporting -whatever you need: we got you covered.

Contact us to learn more.