Gleneagles hotel to introduce a ‘carbon levy'

Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland is planning to introduce a ‘carbon levy' so its guests can help reduce the impact of travel on the environment.

The five-star resort said the money raised will go towards environmental projects that cut down the release of harmful greenhouses gases.

A figure has not been agreed, but it is expected that the levy will at least reflect the costs of offsetting the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by getting to the hotel by air or road.

That would mean about £11 for a return flight across the Atlantic, about £20 for a flight from the Far East and £22.50 from South Africa.

Peter Lederer, the chief executive of Gleneagles, told the Scotsman: "We are considering setting up a foundation in which we will ask guests to voluntarily contribute a sum, which will be matched by the hotel.

"We will then talk with bodies like Scottish Natural Heritage on how best to use the money to mitigate climate change, whether that is planting trees or some other method."

The hotel is also installing a £400,000 woodchip-fuelled boiler as part of a range of measures aimed at combating the effects of climate change.

"The system is reliable and now of a scale we can use," Lederer said. "The boiler will reduce our CO2 emissions by 2,000 tonnes a year, about half of what we produce. It would be wonderful if the tourism industry as a whole could go down this route."

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By Daniel Thomas

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