- Brunel Museum has become the first museum to sign up to the sustainable travel employee benefits scheme Climate Perks.
- Climate Perks allows employers to give employees paid “journey days” which they can use to subsidise their annual leave to take low-carbon transport modes to their holiday destinations.
- Just 15% of people take 70% of all the flights in the UK. Data has shown that those that fly most frequently are professionals with disposable income which means employers are in a unique position to empower employees to use low-carbon transport.
The Brunel Museum has become the first museum to join the sustainable travel employee benefits scheme Climate Perks.
This means that employees of the Brunel Museum are now entitled to a minimum of two paid “journey days” on top of their annual leave so they are able to take low carbon transport options over flights.
The aim of the scheme is not only to get people flying less but to help more people embrace “slow travel” – a form of travel that sees people appreciate the journey just as much as the destination.
Flying is the fastest growing cause of greenhouse gases globally so it’s essential to cut flights in order to address climate change. A single return flight to Berlin produces the same emissions as 13 journeys there and back on train so encouraging the latter will mean significant carbon savings.
Climate charity Possible created Climate Perks to enable employers to offer their staff a minimum of two paid ‘journey days’ when employees choose flight-free travel to their holiday destination. Climate Perks helps people to access the destinations they want to go but also safeguard them for the future.
The Brunel Museum is just one of many that have signed up to the scheme. Since launching, Climate Perks has seen 60 organisations promise to give their employees at least two travel days. These include the likes of the environmental NGO Friends of the Earth, the ferry service Direct Ferries and the law firm Bates Wells
Hannah Bland, Climate Perks project manager at climate charity Possible, said:
“Having a museum sign up for Climate Perks is brilliant. Centres for learning and culture, like Brunel Museum, are invaluable places for initiatives like this to start gaining prominence. We hope that all the employees at the Museum are excited by the prospect of low-carbon travel and have some fantastic adventures in getting to their holiday destinations.”
Katherine McAlpine, director of the Brunel Museum, said:
“Our museum tells the story of how Marc Brunel devised and created the first tunnel under a river anywhere in the world. It also laid the blueprint for all future tunnelling projects, including the Channel Tunnel which today is among the best low carbon way of travelling internationally from Britain. So it feels appropriate that we’re the first museum to sign up to this really important scheme. We’re so pleased to be able to support our employees to make more sustainable travel choices. ”
