Intrepid Travel is B Corp-certified organisation. Photo / Getty Images
Intrepid Travel is B Corp-certified organisation. Photo / Getty Images
In an increasingly aware world, the words B Corp certification are more and more important, writes Brett Atkinson
There's a first time for everything. After devouring oysters in Matakana, Manly and Mexico City, I'm finally having a crack at opening a few of my favourite bi-valves oceanside in California's Marin County. Wearing a steel-mesh oyster shucking glove and just across the water from Hog Island Oyster Co's Larkspur restaurant, I'm trying my dextrous best not to damage my fingers with a nifty but sharp oyster knife. Once I've mastered the knack – eventually - it's actually pretty easy, and I'm soon making relatively quick work in prising open a few of Hog Island's finest, sourced from their Tomales Bay oyster farm on Northern California's windswept Pacific coast. Simultaneously sweet and salty, they're a briny treat nearing the end of a week-long journey focused on food, wine and beer with Intrepid Travel south from the food carts of Portland to the farmers' markets and farm-to-table ethos of San Francisco.
Like the Hog Island Oyster Co, Intrepid Travel is a certified B Corp organisation, defined by the international B Lab non-profit as measuring a "company's entire social and environmental impact". In New Zealand, B Corp companies include Matakana's Sawmill Brewery – the country's only B Corp-certified craft brewery – and the Raglan Food Co, makers of Raglan dairy-free coconut yoghurt. All-conquering shoe manufacturer Allbirds are also certified, and Intrepid is the world's biggest and most influential travel B Corp, first achieving certification with a score of 82.7 out of 100 in 2018, and then increasing their score to 91.2 in 2021 following B Lab's triennial recertification requirements.
Intrepid Travel have partnered with other sustainably-focused and B Corp organisations like Hog Island Oyster Co.
Photo / Intrepid Travel
Achieving B Corp certification is a rigorous process with a critical eye applied to all aspects of a company's operation, including environmental considerations like renewable energy usage and their carbon footprint, through to supply chains, community involvement, team diversity and employee relations. In the case of Intrepid, the certification process involves forensically interrogating a network of more than a thousand staff, leaders and crew working from 30-plus offices around the world to deliver trips and experiences covering all seven continents. Everything from auditing food miles on meals served, to adding more plant-based menu options and partnering with other sustainably-focused and B Corp organisations like Hog Island Oyster Co is included.
Oysters at Hog Island Oyster Co's restaurant. Photo / Intrepid Travel
Since 2020, Intrepid has also committed to offsetting 125 per cent of their carbon footprint by harnessing involvement in developments such as wind turbine plants in India and Turkey and initiatives such as the Eden Reforestation Project in Kenya. There's also a drive to transition to renewable energy in all Intrepid offices around the world by 2025, and for transport on trips and departures by 2030, all targets developed and inspired by Dr Susanne Etti, the company's in-house Global Environmental Impact Manager.
Following their B Corp recertification in 2021, Intrepid has also introduced more than 200 new journeys, many designed with a re-energised focus on wildlife and environmental conservation, cultural history and traditions, and skills and training for trip partners and team members. Three weeks of paid parental or caregiver leave for all staff – regardless of gender – is a significant breakthrough in many countries, and initiatives like signing contracts directly with female homestay owners in Egypt has also contributed to improved gender representation. Further driving empowerment, in 2019 Intrepid achieved the goal of an equal percentage of males and females leading departures around the world.
Hog Island's oysters are sourced from their Tomales Bay oyster farm on the Pacific coast. Photo / Intrepid Travel
Supporting and amplifying indigenous voices and perspectives is another of Intrepid's B Corp-inspired aims, and a few days before my oyster-shucking lesson, it's a future direction showcased at Oregon's Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Serving us wind-dried salmon, caught only days earlier at her tribe's traditional fishing grounds on the Columbia River, Brigette McConville is the perfect host to learn about the tribe's sustainable blend of ancestral tradition and 21st-century online business.
Brigette McConville is a savvy representative of Oregon's First Nations tribes. Photo / Intrepid Travel
"Do one thing, and do it right" she reckons – apparently advice first offered by her grandmother - and with Salmon King Fisheries' sales of 28 different products now reaching right across America, she's a savvy representative of Oregon's First Nations tribes.
Salmon King Fisheries' sales of 28 different products reach right across America. Photo / Intrepid Travel
Other indigenous experiences recently launched by Intrepid in the US include a full-day guided tour with the Lakota people in South Dakota, and a guided 4WD overnight adventure with the Navajo in Utah's Monument Valley. Closer to home, Intrepid departures in New Zealand include exploring Māori art and culture, and meeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities on trips right across Australia.
It's all a long way from Intrepid's humble beginnings bouncing around Southeast Asia on public transport way back in 1989.
CHECKLIST: THE US WEST COAST
DETAILS Departures are from mid-June to mid-September for Intrepid Travel's six-day/five-night Portland to San Francisco Discovery itinerary. Twin-share costs are from $3330pp, not including flights. See intrepidtravel.com/nz
