Fraser Donaldson's Five Small Steps Towards Travelling Sustainably

Our VP and Group Director Fraser Donaldson is passionate about sustainability and making a personal difference through choices and changes, even if small, and not by greenwashing!

Travelling for business is something that he, like many, cannot avoid so he shares the changes he made on his last trip to Singapore in 2023 and his February 2024 trip to America.

“On my last trip to Singapore, I decided to make a real effort to reduce my personal impact on the environment.

These are the changes I made:

Pack Light

This took a bit of planning as I was away for a week. Every KG on a plane has a direct burn impact. I would have sent a slimmer member of staff, but sadly not possible for these meetings.

Hotel Choice

Organisation and research was key to this. I had several meetings so a location with easy access on foot was my objective and I’m proud to say I clocked up 17km and saved emissions from taxi journeys I didn’t need. My hotel choice was determined by the hotel’s brand messaging around plastics and its plan to achieve WHO 2030 and 2050 commitments.

Reused Towels

To be fair we should all be doing this, it’s easy.

Tea And Coffee

I filled the kettle with just enough water for the cup so I didn’t boil water I didn’t need! Simple.

Showers

Set to 1 minute and cold! You can call me Fraser HOF! It took a bit of getting used to, but weirdly invigorating in the 32-degree heat!

And ...

For the first time ever on a trip, I didn’t eat meat. I ate locally produced vegetarian street food, a whole new experience for me and it was delicious!

My new travelling motto is ‘How do I reduce my impact at every step!’ Small things done every time I travel will reduce my impact and enable me to experience the world I am lucky enough to travel through!

In America, there was no taxis, lots of steps and the train between cities. The flight between New York and Washington would have had a personal impact of 0.163t CO2 emission, making the train much more environmentally friendly.”

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