The Green Traveller Digest, October 2025
- Green Traveller
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- 7 min read
The Green Traveller Digest
Welcome to my latest round up of news, features and comments on green travel. This newsletter is written by me, Richard Hammond, the founder of Green Traveller. If you'd like to receive the newsletter by email, please subscribe here.
This newsletter is part of a series of publications produced by Green Traveller Media.
Our production website is at greentraveller.com and our consumer-facing website is at greentraveller.co.uk. Our free e-magazine The Green Traveller (autumn 2025 above, published today!) ties in with related features across all our channels that aim to shine a light on lower carbon travel as well as positive impact adventures further afield.
Green Travel News
Eurostar orders double-decker trains
Eurostar has announced it is investing in up to 50 new double-decker trains built by Alstom Group. Eurostar confirmed an order for 30 trains, with an option for a further 20, marking a significant step in Eurostar’s growth journey to 30 million annual passengers.
The new fleet, named 'Eurostar Celestia' will be a bespoke design created from Alstom’s Avelia Horizon platform. The 200-metre trains will be interoperable across all five countries served today plus new destinations of Geneva and Frankfurt.
The first trains are due to join the fleet in January 2031, with commercial services launching in May 2031. Once delivered, the new trains will operate alongside Eurostar’s current fleet of 17 e320s, bringing the total fleet to 67 trains.
By train in a day to Europe
Tailor-made holiday specialist, Fred.Holidays has published a train travel guide to help its customers understand where they can travel by train in day in the UK and across to Europe as part of a drive to promote its rail holidays, which include budget rail breaks, grand rail tours, and luxury rail holidays throughout the continent.
Sally Barlow, Rail Product Manager, Fred.Holidays, says: “Our product managers have many years of experience and we have created a range of carefully-curated rail holidays designed to suit all tastes. With legs stretched out, enjoy an on-board snack and a tipple, or just watch the world go by - travelling by train really is the way to get to the heart of any destination with the least amount of hassle, lower carbon footprint and most importantly, avoiding those airport and baggage reclaim queues!”
Walk the roof of England
A new multi-day walking route has launched in the North Pennines National Landscape and UNESCO Global Geopark. The ‘Roof of England’ Walk is a journey around the North Pennines, with its name reflecting its lofty location in the uplands of Northern England where walkers can tackle some of the country’s highest footpaths and enjoying views of open moorlands, big skies, and horizons. The route makes its way through County Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland, the three counties of the North Pennines National Landscape, as well as a section in the Yorkshire Dales National Park to enable a visit to Nine Standards Rigg.
Heilbronn named European Green Capital 2027
The German city of Heilbronn has been named as European Green Capital 2027. According to a statement from the European Commission, the award was given to Heilbronn because of its “successful intersectoral collaboration of noise, climate and air pollution into its ‘Landscape Plan 2030’ and the city’s ‘Mobility Concept’. Citizen engagement is central, with participatory platforms, awareness campaigns, and protection for quiet areas”. The jury also recognised the city’s ambitious targets for 2035. The city will be granted a financial prize of €600,000. Heilbronn succeeds 2026 titleholder Guimarães, Portugal and 2025 titleholder Vilnius, Lithuania.
Exodus Adventure goes 'Wild at Heart'
Small-group adventure tour operator, Exodus Adventure Travels, has launched a major fundraising campaign to support its conservation mission of ‘supporting communities to protect key species globally’.
Following the introduction of two new projects – saving endangered primates in Vietnam and supporting jaguar conservation in Costa Rica – ‘Wild at Heart’ has been launched by the Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation. The fundraiser will support initiatives across all of Exodus’ key destinations, including existing projects aimed at maintaining tiger habitats in India, protecting elephants in Kenya and educating communities on bear preservation in Italy.
Kasia Morgan, Head of Sustainability, Exodus Adventure Travels said: “Connecting adventurous travellers with incredible destinations is what we do, always with a view on how our adventures can benefit local species, environments and communities. Our ‘Wild at Heart’ campaign is the next chapter in this commitment to support thriving nature and thriving people. We are excited to invite Exodus customers to join us in supporting this campaign, and helping protect the places they explore, and the species that make these destinations memorable.”
“We’ve made it as easy as possible for people to contribute to the project of their choice, and 100% of donations will go towards the work on the ground. As little as £5 could fund a set of camera batteries to monitor the reintroduction of a jaguar prey species in Costa Rica, while £12 is enough to equip a local Rewilding Ranger in Vietnam with essential patrol gear.”
Protecting the Maya Forest
The governments of Guatemala, Mexico and Belize have signed an agreement to create a ‘Biocultural Corridor of the Great Mayan Forest’, linking 27 protected areas in Guatemala, 11 in Belize and 12 in Mexico, including renowned sites such as Mirador-Río Azul National Park, Aguas Turbias Protected Natural Area and Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
The reserve will cover 5.7 million hectares of mixed ecosystems, lowland, mid and highland tropical rainforests, and Petenes mangroves, home to around 7,000 species, including 200 at-risk and 50 priority species. Iconic wildlife includes jaguars, tapirs, spider monkeys and quetzals.
Beyond biodiversity, the corridor honours the living cultures of indigenous Mayan and Afro-descendant communities, who are recognised as guardians of the forest. The three nations will share expertise and resources to manage threats like illegal logging, deforestation and wildfires, while promoting sustainable use of forest resources for local communities.
The Maya Forest is also home to archaeological treasures such as Naranjo in Guatemala, Calakmul and Balamkú in Mexico, Yaxhá, Nakum, and La Milpa in Belize. More information about Guatemala: www.visitguatemala.gt
In case you missed it...
Intrepid makes radical changes to its Climate Action Plan
Earlier this month there was a significant announcement from Intrepid Travel regarding changes to its Climate Action Plan that will likely reverberate across the industry. In particular, it is introducing "a new lifecycle target that takes full accountability of our total emissions, including customer flights to and from our trips".
Intrepid is making three changes:
Retiring its carbon offset programme and Climate Active certification to focus on decarbonisation investment, launching a Climate Impact Fund, redirecting $2 million each year from offsets into "practical, immediate emissions reductions".
Shifting to a lifecycle-based carbon intensity reduction target
"Under global accounting carbon protocols, tour operators are not obliged to account for customers’ own flights to their tour joining point. However, we know that these flights contribute more than 75% of lifecycle emissions to our trips and we therefore feel these flights are very much a part of lifecycle emissions of our business and travellers. "That’s why we are now bringing them into carbon accounting methodology.
We believe we need to acknowledge our true environmental footprint by adopting a model that reflects reality."
It is stepping away from Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
"Our new 2030 target is an 8% reduction in carbon intensity, measured on a lifecycle basis... We’ll also continue to have a specific 21% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (offices, trips, accommodation) by 2030, from a 2024 base year."
In a statement, Intrepid said: "While this means we’re stepping away from carbon offsetting, as well as the Science Based Targets initiative, this new approach recognises the urgency of the crisis and is designed to accelerate the work we need to do to decarbonise our business."
Gwyn Topham, The Guardian's transport correspondent, has covered the story in today's Guardian: Tour operator Intrepid drops carbon offsets and emissions targets
There's also a joint open letter by Intrepid's Co-founder & Chair and CEO.
It's a Journey sustainable travel podcast
We've now completed series 1 of It’s a Journey, the sustainable travel podcast I'm co-hosting with my former colleague and sustainable travel expert Holly Tuppen.
The series is for those who work in the travel and tourism industry, and dives into the future of sustainable travel through candid conversations with leading voices across the industry as well as guests from other sectors.
Born out of a frustration with a lack of platforms to share B2B solutions-focused and actionable storytelling around sustainability topics, each episode of It’s a Journey tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.
The five episodes are:
Episode 1 - Don’t mention the S word
Should you shout about your sustainability actions?
Episode 2 - Costing Nature
Does doing the right thing by people and nature make commercial sense?
Episode 3: The Future of Rail
Can train travel be a practical, affordable, low-emissions alternative to air travel?
Episode 4: Partnerships for Good
Are public-private partnerships the best way to accelerate change in the tourism industry?
Episode 5: Community Tourism
What does good community tourism look like and can we measure its benefits?
Have a listen wherever you like to get your podcasts (Spotify, Apple etc), or use the link via the website itsajourney.fm
Please do subscribe so you can find out when the next episodes drop.
Huge thanks to the brilliant team at Lemongrass which is sponsoring the podcast. Lemongrass is a B Corp PR and content agency for travel brands whose clients are tour operators, destinations and hotels.
News from Green Traveller
Green Traveller in Gran Canaria
We've published two features articles and a video about Gran Canaria, which aims to shine a light on experiences in the less-visited northern part of this popular island.
The guide includes two articles by journalist Teresa Machan. The first looks Conservation, food and local culture, the second reviews Wildlife watching and hiking.
The Green Traveller e-magazine - published today!
The autumn 2025 issue of our magazine features:
Hiking the Golden Valley Pilgrim Way, Herefordshire, by Richard Hammond
Best of Britain - eco stays
Foot passenger ferry travel to Europe
Postcard from Innsbruck
Island-hoping across the Ionian Islands, by Jill Sayles
The rural side of life in Gran Canaria, by Teresa Machan
Get the Picture - responsible photography in Soweto, South Africa, by Diana Jarvis
Community-based conservation travel in Saint Lucia, by Josephine Price
...and much more!
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