Our Carbon Action Plan

Protect

To run a business that positively contributes to the planet we need to find a system that values regeneration and life over monetary wealth and greed.  To channel, evolve and measure our positive impact, in September 2024 we announced the goal to invest €1 Million into environmental protection by 2035. This approach ensures we direct resources towards projects that regenerate and restore, rather than exploit and deplete.

AliKats’ €1 million investment will be channelled into a variety of focused sustainability initiatives over the next decade.

These efforts include:

Zero Food Waste: AliKats is committed to maintaining a zero-waste business by ensuring that all food is carefully managed, reducing landfill waste and supporting composting efforts. This has been achieved for the past two years so far.

Volunteer Work: Employee hours will be dedicated to volunteering with conservation projects, helping to restore local ecosystems and promote environmental stewardship.

Sustainable Operations: Investment will also be made in sustainable procurement, prioritising eco-friendly products over harmful alternatives. This includes using organic cleaning products and toxin-free toiletries.

Guest Initiatives: Guests will benefit from free electric vehicle charging at the chalets, and discounts for those who choose eco-friendly travel options such as taking the train, eating plant-based meals, and opting out of hot tub use.

Guest discounts: a range of economic rewards to encourage guests to reduce their environmental impact through green holiday choices, such as travelling by train, opting out of hot tub use and eating vegetarian food.

2025 Pledge

1. Identify and begin implementation of developments needed to achieve the €1 Million investment in environmental protection by 2035

Measure

We need to know where our emissions are coming from so we can understand how to reduce them. We track how much CO2/CO2e our operations as a company emit in kg on an annual basis. This includes an estimate from all in-resort transport, accommodation, waste, and food provisions.

You can read our latest climate progress report for the period of 1st June 2023 to 31st May 2024 here: AliKats Climate Report 2023 2024.

Alongside this, we also need to measure waste across the business and find ways to continue to reduce waste and divert from landfills and incinerators.We are a zero food waste business and will continue to measure waste across the business as a means to maintain minimum waste production and identify ways to eliminate plastic and dirty waste that can’t be recycled.

Reduce

We are continually searching for ways to reduce our carbon footprint across all areas of the business. Our pledges for 2024/25 continue to work on reducing our Scope 1 direct emissions and Scope 2 owned emissions (purchased energy from a utility provider) whilst moving further into the reduction of our scope 3 emissions, specifically those associated with the businesses and partners that supply us and our guests with goods and services.

2025 Pledges:

2. Increase incentive packages that help guests reduce the impact of their holiday and reward those who choose sustainable travel and holiday options, including:
travelling to the resort by train and selecting a plant-based menu.

3. Cut down on the overall use of hot tubs through our Responsible Hot Tub Initiative, which provides winter guests with an ‘opt out’ option, and summer guests with an ‘opt in’ option. Guests receive €200 off the cost off their holiday for not using a hot tub.

4. Build renewable energy for heating (and electricity) into every new chalet contract (our properties are leased). Through a radical system of eliminating oil-fired heaters and introducing air-source heat pumps, currently 90% of our chalets are heated through renewable energy.

5. Keep meat consumption to a minimum.  Since 2023 all starters are vegetarian and only four of the 15 courses served on our main menu contain meat. Where we do have meat on the menu, it is locally, ethically and sustainably produced.

6. Continue efforts to increase our fleet of electric vehicles with the purchase of an electric mini-van for slope runs and general transport of guests around the resort.

7. Repair items, prolong the life of goods and upcycle materials as standard practice. Our full-time maintenance worker overseas the maintenance of our properties and adopts sustainable values as best practice. This includes white goods, whereby the The Repairability Index – the French system which awards a score based on the ease of repairing electrical and electronic items – will be taken into consideration before purchasing.

8. In the last two years we have made an 85% reduction in expenditure with Amazon, a company who’s ethics we consider damaging to people, local economies and the environment. We will continue this minimum spend or reduce further.

9. Uphold our commitment to zero food waste by continuing extensive composting and permaculture practices to maintain zero food waste across the business.

Remove

Our focus is to methodically and creatively strive for further CO2 reduction within our company and supply chain. However, where we haven’t been able to reduce our emissions, we are investing in carbon reduction projects to absorb or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Foundation GoodPlanet – a French non profit organisation running environmental and social field projects, including the construction and monitoring of biodigesters, solar cookers and improved stoves in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Insufficient access to clean energy causes 4 million deaths each year from indoor air pollution caused by the use of fossil fuels. (WHO, 2019). Read more about these important projects here.

2025 Pledge:

10. To continue to measure and mitigate our remaining carbon emissions through credible climate companies (as highlighted above), whilst ensuring our primary focus and creativity is carbon reduction. You can see our certificates of carbon offset contribution below.

11. To continue our carbon neutrality transport contribution to enable guests to measure and mitigate the carbon produced by their transport to resort. By opting into this program our customers can rest assured that their contribution is invested in the Sustainable Mountain Futures Fund. This fund contributes towards climate adaptation locally, enabling our local environmental non-profit, Montagne Verte, to work on projects such as encouraging train travel, improving local transport options and supporting businesses and residents to reduce their carbon impact and prepare for the future.

Communicate

This final part of our action plan is all about communication and collaboration, as we aim for a unified response to the climate crisis across the ski, and wider tourism sector. It is about transparency and authenticity; sharing failings and celebrating victories; propelling positive change and not wasting valuable time – so we can make the progress that so urgently needs to be made.

2025 Pledge:

This final part of our action plan is all about communication and collaboration, as we aim for a unified response to the climate crisis across the ski, and wider tourism sector. It is about transparency and authenticity; sharing failings and celebrating victories; propelling positive change and not wasting valuable time – so we can make the progress that so urgently needs to be made.

12. Communicate the progress of our climate initiatives and ensure our plans are evolving continuously based on learning and sharing, this involves sharing best practice examples that can be adopted by individuals and businesses.

13. Support and celebrate the green wins of organisations, partners and friends in the travel and mountain sports sector by sharing their products and stories on our channels.