vojo

15/02/2022

We’re really pleased to announce that our first Nordic prototype is ready for testing 🛠

Whether it’s planning a real-world journey, or visualising a dream backpacking trip around Scandinavia, today our beta testers are putting vojo to the test as we set off on our journey to save emissions while making travel a more accessible and joyful experience.

Interested in being one of the first to try out vojo too? You can sign up here if so: bit.ly/vojo-sign-up

19/01/2022

A flight is typically the single most carbon intensive service a person will purchase. At vojo, our aim is to empower and facilitate sustainable cross-border travel, helping to cut emissions significantly.

Sound like something you’d like to be a part of? Sign up to our waiting list here: bit.ly/vojo-sign-up

13/01/2022

A 2020 EIB survey revealed that 74% of EU respondents were willing to fly less frequently to combat climate change. And, with the European Union set to issue 60,000 free rail passes to young Europeans, Lonely Planet has compiled a list of Europe’s most scenic train journeys 😍

Which ones are on your list?

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/best-train-journeys-europe

With news that the European Union is to issue 60,000 free rail passes to young Europeans, train travel has never seemed so appealing. As much of Europe reopens after gruelling lockdowns, it's time to start planning the great rail experience.

07/01/2022

Although demand for low-carbon travel is growing fast around Europe, booking travel chains combining trains, buses and ferries is often a fragmented and frustrating experience that prevents many from swapping flights for ground travel.

At vojo we’re building a one-stop comprehensive information and booking platform for ground-based travel, helping climate conscious travelers smoothly and securely book ground travel throughout Europe.

31/12/2021

Has 2021 brought intrepid new overland travels - made possible by an office job gone remote? Or more headaches and heartaches over cancelled holidays? Possibly both?

Regardless of how the past 12 months have been, we all love to travel, and this often involves flying. However flights are, by far, the most carbon-intensive products most of us will ever consume.

If vojo manages to convert even 3% of European flights to ground travel, based on conservative estimate of saving just 116.5 kg of carbon dioxide per trip, we can save 2.2m tons of CO2e per year. This is equivalent to the entire climate impact of a German city of 270,000 people!

Image credit: Krivic Ales.

07/05/2021

"Those who bear the brunt of the climate crisis are rarely those emitting the most."

Responsible Travel founder and CEO Justin Francis on twenty years of promoting sustainable travel - and the future of an industry that accounts for 10% of jobs worldwide 🌍

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/sustainable-living/responsible-travel-anniversary-sustainable-tourism-b1827423.html

On the two-decade anniversary of his disruptive travel company, Justin Francis reflects on just how far the industry has come – and where it’s going next

30/04/2021

Who doesn't love a train journey? We know it's better and eco-friendlier than any other transport 💚 As soon as 2022, sleeper trains from London to Europe via the Channel tunnel will start operating thanks to renewed investment 🎉

An ambitious plan to take overnight services through the Channel tunnel reflects a growing interest in sustainable travel

22/04/2021

Ever thought about what it would be like to travel on the world's fastest trains? 🚄 The fastest operating at 310 mph (498.8 km/h), most of these trains are in China and Japan. 🇨🇳🇯🇵

These are the fastest trains in the world, including one that can operate at 374 miles per hour.

13/04/2021

Wowowow! 🎉 A huge step forward has been made as French politicians voted to enshrine into policy something activists have spent generations fighting for on Saturday. Any domestic flight that can't be covered by train in under 2 and a half hours is now off limits - although the law excludes transfer flights 😒 (like Bordeaux to Dakar via Paris, for example).

French lawmakers voted late on Saturday to abolish domestic flights on routes than can be covered by train in under two-and-a-half hours, as the government seeks to lower carbon emissions even as the air travel industry reels from the global pandemic.

18/03/2021

If a 'carbon budget' is a fixed total amount of carbon dioxide (and equivalents) that can be emitted by everyone, and everything, on Earth then to arrive at an 'equitable low-carbon lifestyle allocation' of 2.1 tCO2e each per year by 2030, we divide that total by the number of humans.

This Vox report shows how a staggering 90+% of carbon emissions need to be cut by the world's wealthiest 10% - with the richest 1% causing double the carbon burden of the poorest 50% combined. But this also means that cuts in consumption by the wealthy (including most 'middle class' Americans) have disproportionate benefits that are relatively painless to make.

So what will it be? 🤔

How the right to pursue happiness through unlimited consumption harms the planet, and our kids.

14/03/2021

Despite a brief dip in CO2 emissions caused by the pandemic, we're still heading for a 3°C temperature rise this century – far beyond the Paris Agreement goals.

The latest Emissions Gap Report explains the benefits of a low carbon recovery, which could cut 25% off the greenhouse emissions expected in 2030 👇

https://www.unep.org/emissions-gap-report-2020

The 2020 report finds that the world is still heading for a temperature rise in excess of 3°C this century but a low-carbon pandemic recovery could reduce the worst impacts of climate change.

12/03/2021

Since 2009, the pledge that $100bn would flow from rich to poor countries each year from 2020 has been a cornerstone of international climate talks. Now 6 academics argue in an article for Nature Climate Change journal (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-00990-2) that, with no clear accounting system in the current framework, rich countries are failing on their pledge.

But levies on international flights and bunker fuel from shipping are currently excluded from countries' emissions tallies under the Paris agreement. These could make up the shortfall.

The 2009 pledge to mobilize US$100 billion a year by 2020 in climate finance to developing nations was not specific on what types of funding could count. Indeterminacy and questionable claims make it impossible to know if developed nations have delivered; as 2020 passes, opportunity exists to addres...

07/03/2021

At it stands, virtual reality has been a bit of a gimmick for those wealthy enough to afford it. But the boom in 'pandemic VR' has got the likes of Germany's national travel board adopting the technology and its potential flagged by tourism analyst Ralph Hollister in recreating historic sites damaged by mass tourism.

Which of your bucket list travel destinations would you consider swapping out for a VR experience?

Experts say pandemic could provide watershed moment for technology, potentially leading to more sustainable tourism

03/03/2021

Tech billionaire Bill Gates has recently got a heap of airtime to talk about his book, which focuses on innovation and green-investment digging us out of the climate crisis 📈 It's hard to disagree with the need for more money for mitigation and adaptation 💸

He however also goes on record saying that XR doesn't have a plan beyond getting attention by stopping traffic - and mentions clean steel 10 times 🌱 Should we care what billionaires say or not expect them to have a good answer for every topic? What do you think? 🤔
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-02-15/inside-bill-gates-brain-an-interview-about-tackling-climate-change

In an interview, the billionaire talks about ways to scale solutions that can cut emissions in what might become his third big act

26/02/2021

Ambitious net-zero climate goals are necessary for corporates, but how do you distinguish those who walk the walk and talk the talk from those who only talk? 📢

Here are some questions to ask when a company says it plans to get to zero emissions.

25/02/2021

While the rest of Europe experiences a revival in night train infrastructure, Renfe terminated their Lisbon-Madrid-Hendaye service last March. Think they should do better? Back on Track train coalition have made a petition to the Portuguese, Spanish and French governments urging that the link between the Iberian Peninsula and Central Europe is reinstated. You can sign it here: https://bit.ly/2PeIPOJ ✒️

Link the Iberian Peninsula and Central Europe with Night Trains

17/02/2021

Carbon Offsetting? 🌳 A legitimate way to get society to Net Zero, or an Emperor without clothes? Friends of the Earth argue the latter.

Indeed, according to an EU study, 75% of all offsetting projects have been shown not to deliver additional carbon reductions. Furthermore, the most popular type of offsets: forestry projects, suffer from social, biodiversity and permanence issues (they burn).

🔥 At it's worst, offsetting can deter or delay real action, as the carbon credits are seen as equivalent to actually cutting emissions at the source 😬
🌎 At it's best, offsets as a form of 'donation' rather than 'compensation' can provide locals with finance for low-carbon technologies and adaptation

What is your opinion on offsetting? Is it a dangerous lie we are telling ourselves? Or are there ways that we can make it much better? 🤔

Offsetting. Everybody’s at it. Shell says that it offsets the petrol that its customers buy. The aviation industry has said offsetting is how we can carry on flying. Some countries even want to offset their emissions. But what is carbon offsetting and does it work?

11/02/2021

Following devastating news that Eurostar is begging for a bailout from the UK government amidst this pandemic, climate charity Possible have created an easy way for Brits to write to the Minister for Trains and their MP to protect climate-friendly travel. Click through and it will take a matter of minutes!

Taking the Eurostar generates just one tenth of the emissions of flying - making it a key part of our fight against climate change. Can you join me to make it clear to the government that they won’t get away with bailing out planes while letting the Eurostar crash?

09/02/2021

Here's to a travel culture where we choose to visit places for relationships we make, rather than the predictable composition of pixels we take. Looks like New Zealand are not only handling this pandemic the right way - but also making us think twice about what we prioritise in a holiday. 🧐

Our friend Tom Sainsbury (Comedian and Snapchat Dude) from the Social Observation Squad (S.O.S) has been patrolling some of New Zealand’s top tourist spots. ...

25/01/2021

"The departure of a night train—by definition, a humdrum event for the station staff—exudes, for all but the most jaded travellers, the thrill of an unfamiliar ritual." From last spring's New Yorker.

The beguilements of the sleeper car have never seemed sharper than on the eve of a global lockdown.

23/01/2021

This recent briefing paper by Germanwatch e.V. lays out the opportunities for the 2021 European Year of Rail, wherein: "a strengthened European rail system could (1) better connect people and businesses in Europe, (2) reduce transport emissions by creating alternative options to road transport and aviation, and (3) give a green boost to the European economy post-Covid-19."
..They also highlight the need for "making booking of international services attractive and convenient" which is very up our street.

The European Union has set itself the target to become climate neutral by 2050. Rail could play a key role in the future transport system because it is clean, safe and reliable, and it could become a symbol for the European Green Deal.

21/01/2021

What will the future of train travel look like? Having suffered a whopping 95% reduction in passengers during this pandemic, Eurostar is in dire straights without access to the government loans that have been extended to the aviation sector. 😢

The cross-Channel train service has seen a 95% fall in passengers during the Covid-19 pandemic

19/01/2021

A lockdown creature comfort for the Brits of team vojo has been travelling vicariously through this Channel 5 show - featuring some absolutely breathtaking views and local stories. Wouldn't get this stuff on a plane.

Bill Nighy narrates the stories of epic train journeys through stunning scenery.

16/01/2021

We've been poring over this new collaborative report into the Future of Travel by Trippin and UCL - exploring the changing world of travel for young creatives in an era defined by the climate crisis, intersectionality and Covid-19. It's an insightful and aesthetic read:

What is The Future of Travel is our new research report conducted in partnership with University College London (UCL) and an expert panel of creative travellers from our community, which explores what the future of travel looks like through an intersectional lens.the future of travel within the youn...

15/01/2021

"There are multiple ways, they say, to connect with colleagues, collaborators, peers and others without boarding an aeroplane." So what do climate scientists advise? Here are some thought starters for a world beyond Covid-19.

Climate scientists recommend ways to boost the value of virtual conferences and reduce carbon footprints even when travel curbs ease.

15/01/2021

The fact is that aviation is a climate justice issue, with the global elite of frequent flying "super emitters" causing half of all carbon emissions from worldwide flights in 2018.

Exclusive: Researchers say Covid-19 hiatus is moment to tackle elite ‘super emitters’

15/01/2021

As we're very clear about at vojo HQ, there is no 'techno fix' for flying! The only option for reducing aviation's massive carbon footprint is to fly less. But that doesn't stop the industry from trying to greenwash its way of out any climate culpability, as this 2019 article demonstrates.

One airline giving free flights to people with the last name Green is just the latest campaign in the name of eco-consciousness. But some critics call this "greenwashing" falsely reassuring.

14/01/2021

After a year where most of us stayed grounded out of necessity, can giving up air travel be sustained once it becomes a choice?

Helen Coffey reflects on conflicted feelings around her 2020 resolution as we enter a new year of uncertainty.

After a year in which nearly all of us stayed grounded, Helen Coffey reflects on what she’s learnt from her 2020 New Year’s resolution

13/01/2021

Hi 👋 - we're vojo. We have some ideas (and solutions) for low carbon travel for you.