At Swoop Patagonia we’re obsessed with the ends of the Earth. Few things excite us more than the view of peak after snowy peak after climbing a stiff mountain pass. Or the release after holding your breath as you watch a puma pass by with her cubs, or a wind so bracing it cuts like a knife as it sweeps down from a glacier. These are the experiences we live for and love crafting for the travellers we send to Chile and Argentina.
But we also know that tourism doesn’t exist in a vacuum. On some of Patagonia’s most popular hiking trails, the threat of overtourism has already arrived, as walkers queue for the views they’ve travelled so far to enjoy in solitude. The region is not immune to the biodiversity crisis sweeping the world, and flying to Patagonia, as with any destination, carries a cost in carbon emissions.
We’ve always known that we need to play our part in protecting the destinations we love, and since becoming a B Corp in 2023 we’ve turned that determination into concrete action. In our latest annual impact report, we share some of our ongoing commitments to put people and the planet at the forefront of our business.
The Swoop Conservation Fund
One of the achievements we’re proudest of since becoming a B Corp is putting our money where our mouth is through the creation of the Swoop Conservation Fund. Through this, we’ve committed to give 1% of our annual revenue to support organisations that create significant positive impact in Patagonia and Antarctica. In our first round of funding, the conservation fund contributed $75,000 USD to four organisations: two in Patagonia and two in Antarctica, and to bolster this impact even further, we launched an online portal so our travellers can donate directly to the conservation fund themselves.
The first Patagonian organisation we supported was the non-profit Legado Chile Foundation in Los Lagos – better known to many of our travellers as the heart of the Chilean Lake District. Working in the town of Llanquihue, Legado Chile is a rewilding organisation, but one with a twist. While “rewilding” has become a modern conservation buzzword conjuring up images of vast landscapes being turned back to nature, Legado Chile works on the wetlands that have been swallowed up by urban growth and are now abandoned and unloved in the heart of their communities. Our Patagonia sales specialist Tomas wrote a blog about spending a day on the project to get some dirt under his nails and learn more.
The second organisation we’ve supported is Rewilding Chile. This pioneering conservation non-profit has led the way in showing how to restore damaged ecosystems, mostly notably through its work at Patagonia National Park, which was created out of a patchwork of environmentally denuded sheep ranches). We’ve been supporting their Cape Froward project near Punta Arenas, to create an entirely new coastal national park on the Magellan Strait, covering some of Patagonia’s most pristine forests as well as a rich marine ecosystem that supports thick kelp forests and the feeding grounds for humpback and sei whales.
Counting carbon
One reason that Cape Froward is so close to our hearts (and my heart in particular as Swoop’s sustainability manager) is that around 10% of the future national park is made up of peatland. It’s perhaps not very glamorous from a travel perspective, but peat is one of the most efficient landscapes in the world that acts as a carbon sink. Nearly a third of all land-based carbon is stored in peatlands – double that of the planet’s forests – and they’re a globally threatened environment. While it’ll be a long time before Swoop sends a traveller to Cape Froward, the time to help protect it for the future is now.
We especially know this because we’ve been spending a lot of time counting our carbon emissions to finalise our long-term decarbonisation plan. According to research by the World Travel & Tourism Council in 2023,tourism is responsible for 8.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while accounting for 9.1% of global GDP.
As signatories of the Glasgow Declaration on climate action in tourism, Swoop has committed to developing a decarbonisation plan that will halve our emissions by 2030. The first part, that we have been doing over the last year, is measuring our carbon footprint and conducting environmental assessments with our biggest partners in Patagonia. By doing this, we can understand their current practices and, where needed, support them in calculating their emissions and setting sustainability targets.
With the help of a specialist carbon consultant, we calculated that between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024, our total estimated emissions were 26,560,000 kg of CO2. This includes all our travellers’ international and domestic flights, which account for 99% of all our emissions. A full breakdown of the numbers, including our methodology, is included in our impact report. This figure represents a 3% decrease on the previous year, but we are now looking at options beyond carbon offsetting to reduce and mitigate our direct emissions at an even faster rate.
Strengthening partnerships
One thing our carbon audit revealed was just how important our key local partners are. We’ve always known that they help shape unforgettable experiences for our travellers, but our deep relationships on both business and personal levels have proved crucial in giving us the space and time to unpack these complicated processes.
Of course, this extends far beyond conversations about carbon strategies. Swoop doesn’t have all the answers to the challenges thrown up by the tourism industry, but we’re proud to work with local partners like Patagonia Camp who are doing pioneering work on everything from developing clean water treatment systems for off-grid camps in Torres del Paine, to working with ranchers at Estancia Cerro Guido to protect traditional lifestyles with puma conservation.
In March 2024 we partnered with SERNATOUR, the Chilean tourist board for a responsible tourism campaign centred on Aysen. This beautiful region, home to the Carretera Austral highway, the Marble Caves and the Cerro Castillo mountain range is one of our favourite parts of Chile – but as it becomes better known to travellers, there are as many fears about the problems that tourism might bring as the economic opportunities it presents.
Our campaign was all about listening to local voices – interviewing community leaders and NGOs alongside our partners to better understand their concerns and learn what we can do to ensure that Swoop is a force for good in the travel industry. We are striving to develop more sustainable travel options, while minimising any potential negative impacts. It was a real learning opportunity for us, and we were incredibly proud to receive an award at the Latin American Travel Association (LATA) Responsible Tourism awards for the campaign.
A sustainable travel future for Swoop Patagonia
This year has been about showing what’s possible when we work together. The travel industry faces complex challenges, but at Swoop we’re committed to being transparent and accountable in everything we do. Creating lasting change in biodiversity protection and carbon emissions are big challenges and there is a long road ahead. But by collaborating with our partners – leading the way where we can and listening and learning where we need to – we’re proud to be playing our part.
*
For more information, read Swoop’s Impact and Sustainability Report.
*
