2 0 single-use plastics, increasing recycling, and installing food waste biodigesters across our fleet to lower the volume of waste going to landfill. Similarly, we’ve significantly cut water consumption and usage on our ships. And we’ve enhanced our ability to produce about 80 per cent of the water that we need onboard.” Despite this success, Carnival Corporation is not resting on its laurels. “We have a long way to go before we can achieve our net carbon neutral aims and it’s going to require us to be innovative and inventive, but I’m confident we can do it,” says Donald. Carnival Corporation’s sustainability efforts aren’t just restricted to its ships. It has also set goals to ensure it has a positive impact on the environment, culture and economic prosperity of the destinations it visits. “The cruise industry has a huge responsibility and shared commitment to making travel and tourism sustainable – maintaining a healthy planet is not just an operational necessity, but also a moral obligation,” says Donald. “Our highest responsibility and top priority has always been to ensure environmental compliance and protection, as well as the health, safety and well-being of our guests, employees and the people in the communities we visit. “We know that our business depends on us being able to take guests to beautiful destinations where they’re welcomed by the locals. For this to happen, it’s vital that we listen closely to the locals’ concerns and collaborate with our destination partners to do everything we can to comply with any requirements, so they feel like the community benefits more if we visit than if we don’t. Fortunately, we’ve already achieved this goal in most of the destinations we call at today.” Another key business imperative for Donald is to build a more diverse and inclusive organisation that provides all employees with a safe, healthy and positive work environment that offers equal opportunities for personal and professional growth. Donald, who views his employees as Carnival Corporation’s greatest asset, says: “We’re already among the most diverse companies in the world as our global employee base represents people of all genders and ethnicities from well over 130 countries, but we want to engineer more shipboard and shoreside diversity, equity and inclusion across all ranks and departments by 2030. We see it as a critical business imperative because it spurs innovation and drives better business results. Not only does it allow us to enhance guest experiences and operations, but it also produces great returns for our shareholders. Of course, it’s also the right thing to do from a social responsibility perspective too.” As part of its commitment to provide a safe and healthy working environment for employees, Carnival Corporation plans to introduce global well-being standards by 2023. “The ‘happy crew, happy guests’ mantra is very much true and when we have happy employees, the business performs well too,” says Donald. “We take a holistic approach to protecting and improving the physical and mental well-being of our employees, listening to them to fully understand their needs or concerns and implement improvements. Often, it’s the simple changes that have the biggest impact, such as expanding broadband capacity onboard our ships to make it easier for crew members to stay connected with loved ones back home. “Now, we’re taking it a step further by sharing best practices across our nine brands and learning from both our industry peers and other businesses to develop consistent standards, so we continue to get closer to our aim of being the greatest place to work in the world.” In his relentless pursuit to continually improve how Carnival Corporation operates, Donald capitalised on the pause in global cruise operations to analyse every area of the business and identify new opportunities for optimisation. “One silver lining of the pandemic is that it forced us to improve communication, collaboration and coordination across our nine brands and that’s something I’ve been striving to do since I took the helm of Carnival Corporation,” he says. “Now, we’re operating as a true federation of nine brands, communicating regularly and share skills, knowledge and ideas across sourcing, ship design and construction, revenue management, marketing and public relations, and many other areas. “Working together on projects has led to greater ideation and the rapid adoption of best practices, which will ultimately make us stronger, leaner, and more efficient by improving cash flow, increasing returns for stakeholders and enabling us to develop even greater experiences for guests. Now each brand is stronger and more successful as part of the whole than it would be if it was operating in isolation.” Carnival Corporation’s other outstanding priority is to continue to counter the claims of industry detractors and regulatory bodies who still deem cruising as risky. “One of the most KEYNOTE
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