Intrepid has just recertified as a B Corp, which helps us make good on our pledge to be the best travel company not just in the world, but for the world. Intrepid’s Chief People and Purpose Officer, Meegan Marshall, sheds some light on what goes into getting recertified. Hint: quite a lot.
When it comes to global tourism, both travellers and travel companies have a responsibility to do better. This goes beyond climate. It’s about the social, economic and ethical impact of our adventures.
We can’t go on travelling the way we have been. It isn’t sustainable. But things are beginning to change. The travel industry is slowly becoming more collaborative and progressive on the issues of sustainability and ethical tourism.
We’ve tried to really push that at Intrepid, moving beyond making improvements to our direct business and expanding our efforts to address the impact we make through our supply chain. Through better measurement, targeted efforts and engagement programs, we’ve increased the diversity of our suppliers by ten per cent, while working to ensure all staff are paid a living wage aligned with the Wage Indicator Benchmark.
But we’re not stopping there. Continuous improvement is a hallmark of B Corp – we must always seek to do better and strive for the highest standards of social and environmental performance.
Some of the problems we’re facing are not problems we can solve ourselves. We need to bring the entire industry with us. We need to show people that, yes, there’s a better way to travel. And if we can encourage others to follow in our footsteps, then more people and places will benefit.
How to become a B Corp
Earning our original B Corp certification took a lot of work, but it was also just the first step. To remain a B Corp, you need to recertify every three years to meet ever-increasing standards. That means, every three years, we answer a series of questions about our business and comb through the entire global Intrepid machine – which includes thousands of staff, leaders and crew, and 30+ offices around the world, each of which needs to be vetted. It’s a massive job!
The B Corp questions are broken down into five areas: Governance, Customer, Workers, Community and Environment. Evidence is rigorously audited: I’m talking all the way from our CEO to office supplies and where our energy comes from.
Governance is our board of directors, our policies and procedures, the way we run the business. Workers covers the wages we pay, our working conditions, promotion opportunities and the diversity of our staff. Community tackles our supply chain, or supply web, in our case – the thousands of companies we rely on to run amazing trips all over the world – and our philanthropic efforts.
For Customers, we surveyed the benefits of travel for Intrepid travellers and found some interesting results, particularly regarding environmental awareness. It turns out that small group travel is helping a lot of people reconsider the impact of tourism more broadly. We got a lot of great responses from people who were rethinking how they travel.
This brings us to Environment. This measures the footprint of all Intrepid trips and offices, everywhere; the materials we use, the transportation we take, what kind of energy the business consumes, how far our supplies need to travel, how much waste we produce and what we do with it.
Growing responsibly
Since the last recertification in 2021, we’ve experienced a lot of change from both a business and people perspective. As we emerged from the COVID pandemic, people were eager to start travelling again, leading to a significant period of growth for Intrepid. During this time, nurturing a strong culture around purpose, informed by a rigorous approach to reporting and consistency, was critical. And it was the right decision.
I’m proud to say that in 2024 we increased our B Corp score by over 10 points to 102.5, up from 91.2 in 2021. This puts Intrepid in the top 20 per cent of large B Corps (those with over 1000 employees), alongside leading global brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Natura and Patagonia. That’s a huge result, especially because B Corp ups the ante every three years. The whole world of purpose keeps changing, so what was best-in-class ten years ago in terms of environmental and social impact is basically the bare minimum now. You have to keep raising the bar.
People’s eyes tend to glaze over when I start talking about supply chains, but this has been a huge area of focus for us since the last certification. We’ve introduced new processes, measurement, training and reporting, and it will continue to be a big one for us. There’s a lot of late-night, behind-the-scenes work that goes into something like that, and most travellers won’t ever get to see it. But they will feel the impact.
What’s next for Intrepid?
We’re going to develop our reporting to align with new global frameworks, ensure continued equity and best practices for our workers across our business and supply chain and continue to decarbonise and embed purpose on our trips. If Intrepid can set a good example, and teach others how to do it, the benefits can ripple out and affect the entire chain.
This is why B Corp certification really matters. It takes our belief about balancing purpose with profit and embeds that in the business – legally. It forces us to consider the needs of all stakeholders, not just shareholders. That’s our staff, the communities we visit, our supply chains, our energy providers, everything. It also challenges us and gives us a framework to keep getting better. It’s how we track our progress, not just against the travel industry but against all businesses everywhere.
This work also benefits our travellers, who we know are incredibly conscious about the impact they have, on both the planet and the people they visit along the way. It means they can travel with us, safe in the knowledge of all the hard work that’s gone on behind the scenes – work that helps make all Intrepid trips as responsible as possible.
There’s still a lot to be done, of course. But with B Corp, we have a framework to keep improving and increasing our positive impact. And whether you’re an Intrepid staff member, traveller, supplier or one of the communities we visit on our trips, everyone gets to benefit from that.
We’re a little biased, of course, but we think that’s pretty special.
Find out more about what it means to be a B Corp.
