“Free night for the climate”
Holidays in the Alps: New promotion offers free overnight stays in many mountain huts
Members of the Alpine Club who make at least 90 percent of the journey to a mountain hut in a climate-friendly manner can stay one night in many huts free of charge (symbol image)
© Patrick Daxenbichler / Getty Images
In mountain sports, travel to and from the destination causes the largest proportion of climate-damaging emissions. With a new campaign, the German Alpine Association would like to motivate its members to swap their cars for public transport.
A hiking holiday through nature initially sounds like a more sustainable alternative to a beach holiday. However, the tour through nature can also have climate-damaging consequences – for example, if you travel to and from the hiking tour by car.
In order to change that, the German Alpine Association (DAV) would like to motivate climate protection with a new campaign: Association members who travel to the mountains in a climate-friendly manner can stay one night in a hut free of charge.
In detail, this means: DAV members who can prove that they have made at least 90 percent of their journey on foot, by bicycle or by public transport can spend the first night in the hut in a dormitory or shared room free of charge.
Action for climate protection – but many hut keepers found out about the action too late
“Mobility causes the largest proportion of greenhouse gas emissions in mountain sports,” says Steffen Reich, head of the nature conservation and cartography department at the DAV Federal Association. Arriving by public transport would “contribute a lot to climate protection and thus also to the protection of the Alps.”
So far, around 50 of the 190 DAV huts are taking part in the “Free Night for the Climate” campaign. The hut keepers are only responsible for the implementation on site. The landlord of the Tutzinger Hütte in Bavaria told BR that the campaign would take additional time this summer.
That is probably one reason why only about every fourth DAV hut takes part in the campaign. The hosts would also have found out too late about the campaign.
Alpine Club wants to become climate neutral
The DAV wants to be climate-neutral by 2030. This action should also contribute to this. The “Free Night for the Climate” is financed from the Alpine Club’s “Climate Fund” and with the support of the club’s partner Globetrotter. A list of participating huts can be found on the Alpine Association’s website. If you want to take advantage of the offer, you have to register in advance at the hut. The “Free Night for the Climate” will run until the end of the year.
Sources: German Alpine Club, Bavarian radio