The Greatest Grift of All (4): Transforming Tourism into Climate Activism
Courtesy of green™ consulting firms, travel agents are now doubling as climate activists so that parent companies can claim to fulfil the UN's Sustainability Goals
Non-English content comes in my translation, with emphases and [snark] added.
Climate Rangers Advise on Holiday Planning
Via TravelBusiness.at, 18 March 2025 [source]
More and more tourism operators and travel agencies are focussing on sustainability. Ruefa, Austria’s leading travel agency group, is also strengthening its commitment to sustainability and climate protection. In the company-wide Climate Ranger initiative in cooperation with the climate education company Glacier, a total of 400 Ruefa employees have acquired valuable knowledge on climate protection and sustainable action since August 2024 [so, a ‘climate education’ company trains someone else’s employees to perform ‘action’—I call BS, grift, and, of course, brainwashing: don’t worry, we’ll look at that company, Glacier, below the piece].
All training courses were recently successfully completed [yee-haw, everyone gets a medal for participating: take that, you climate criminals who must now suffer without having participated (yet) and without a medal]—and the newly trained ‘Ruefa Climate Rangers’ are ready to actively promote conscious [watch such words: it’s the give-away of Marxisante indoctrination: what Glacier apparently does is just that: conscientisation (this is Paolo Freire’s term), but the relevant entry—consciousness—is highly pertinent; or, as Karl Marx wrote, ‘It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.’], sustainable behaviour [i.e., they’ll brainwash you to become a member of their death cult], and provide customers with sound advice on how to organise their trips accordingly [remember: we’re talking travel agents here who people visit to arrange holiday trips; when was the last time you wanted to go on a vacation and received an earful of agit-prop for free?].
As part of the major sustainability campaign, Ruefa GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of VERKEHRSBUEROS [that’s a funny side-show here: that ‘company’ (Wikipedia) used to be a state-owned travel agency that ran deeply into the red in the 1980s; it was then ‘privatised’—and guess who owns the Verkehrsbüro: it’s now a publicly listed company (Aktiengesellschaft) that is majority-owned (60% of shares) by the AVZ GmbH (that is the German abbreviation for LLC); AVZ GmbH, in turn, is a subsidiary of the AVZ Privatstiftung (private foundation), which is a shell foundation run by City of Vienna (i.e., the state gov’t of one of Austria’s federal states): now, why would that veritable matryoshka doll of ownership be necessary for a travel agency? Easy—that Vienna State Gov’t is dominated by the Socialists/Social Democrats whose enterprises all turned belly up: the AVZ Foundation was set-up in 2001 to get all the bad debts and liabilities incurred by the Zentralsparkasse (a former bank run by Socialist cronies that went belly up; it was then transformed into Bank Austria, which is today owned by UniCredit Group of Italy)—and guess who was on the board of the AVZ Foundation: then-mayor/governor of Vienna, Michael Häupl, a long-term party cadre whose former girlfriend, Renate Brauner, eventually became his deputy (long after they stopped dating) and, as a member of the Vienna state gov’t, was in charge of finances (treasury) and ‘tourism’: talk about putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop…] is developing specific measures to conserve resources [I doubt that they’ll be conserving their resources], promote social values [remember, Ruefa is a bloody travel agency, but it’s fully in line with the creation of ‘new soviet man’], and make a positive contribution to the tourism industry [all three of these notions are BS: if you want to travel long-distance, they’ll talk you into vacationing domestically while shaming you about your climate-destroying antics: happy holidays, I suppose], the environment and future generations in the long term.
The Climate Ranger initiative with training partner Glacier is an effective way of supporting this, raising employees’ awareness of sustainable behaviour [since when would a holiday-inclined person want to talk to an activist who, in part, also books hotel rooms?]. The programmes offer a varied learning environment with top-class speakers and practical trainers [don’t worry, we’ll have a look at them in a moment; for time being—really? (rolls eyes)].
‘With Ruefa, we have found an excellent partner to anchor sustainable behaviour in Austria’s leading tourism agency [remember: it’s the state-owned travel agency we’re talking about: perhaps you’re wondering where Glacier’s funding comes from at this point?]—and that was just the beginning [of course, these collectivists’ wet dreams is to milk every private travel agency with their absurd ‘trainings’]. Further training initiatives throughout the company will follow’, says a delighted Glacier CEO and co-founder Andreas Tschas [of course he’s happy—such a ‘Climate Ranger’ training (sic) clocks in at 990€, which clocks in at 396,000€—a nice kind of captive audience for Glacier, all paid for by Ruefa, which is ultimately tied to the Socialist/Social Democrat city/state gov’t of Vienna].
Ruefa Deploys 400 new Climate Rangers
Around 400 Ruefa employees have successfully completed the programmes since August 2024. All training courses have now been completed. The focus is now on putting the acquired knowledge into practice [practice, in Marxisante terminology, ‘means activity with a means and an end…inclusive of its mental, theoretical or ideological aspects’].
Climate Ranger as travel agents: Magdalena Wallis, Glacier Climate Ranger Academy [sic, also lol], Birgit Wallner, Verkehrsbuero board member, and Andreas Tschas, Glacier CEO. [the placards they are holding read ‘We are Ruefa Climate Ranger’, which is a grammatically odd in English (the plural of ranger is rangers) and similarly doesn’t work grammatically correct in German, but I suppose if you’re with either Glacier or the marketing, communication, and IT staffers of the Verkehrsbuero, grammar is secondary…]
‘Climate protection and sustainability are particularly important to us—out of a deep sense of responsibility towards society’, explains Birgit Wallner, Board Member of VERKEHRSBUERO, responsible for VERKEHRSBUERO TRAVEL, and the areas of marketing, communication, and IT [note the apparent absence of a sustainability or ESG department: this is a marketing shtick used to gaslight customers with tons of virtue-signalling].
‘Our customers and we ourselves want to continue travelling this planet in all its beauty for a long time to come. That’s why it’s important for us to equip our employees with the necessary knowledge so that they can take climate-active steps themselves and provide our customers with sound advice in this regard’, says Birgit Wallner [I’m going out on a limb here: these travel agents will pontificate and shame customers—which is a sure-fire way to destroy the business model of Ruefa and the Verkehrsbuero, which is to ‘help’ customers spend their money on travel: if I would be a tad more conspiratorially inclined, I’d consider this a strategy to annihilate the tourism industry while, at the same time, funnel money to grifters, such as Glacier].
The aim is to make travellers in all 70 Ruefa stores throughout Austria more aware of climate protection and to promote sustainable travel alternatives [you know, I’ll be travelling to Austria and Czechia next week and I know a Ruefa store is close to where I will be staying: perhaps I should casually walk in there and pretend that I’m interested in a long-distance vacation…]. These include rail travel and environmentally friendly travel options [what is the latter? The Metaverse, to be travelled wearing rented VR goggles?]. In addition, Ruefa is increasingly focusing on sustainable travel offers in its product design and cooperating with partners who fulfil high sustainability standards [this is how these collectivists ‘march through the institutions’, by the way: you capture a leader in any field (e.g., Ruefa, Austria’s biggest travel agency), brainwash their employees (who are there to earn a living, as opposed to the social activism of the board), and ‘nudge’ (failing that, coerce) the company’s business contacts into the same policies on the pain of discontinuing the joint business ventures; this is precisely how, e.g., the left/far-left Oslo city gov’t wants to capture the construction industry]
‘Our “Ruefa Climate Rangers” will use their expertise [sic; remember to trust them experts™; also, they are travel agents, not climate scientists (but keep in mind that the Science™ knows all and best] to help make climate-friendly options possible both in their everyday work and when planning holidays. In doing so, they are sending a strong signal in favour of environmentally friendly and socially responsible development throughout the travel industry,’ says Michele Fanton, Managing Director of Ruefa.
Glacier: Saving the Planet Wearing Sweatpants
So, what is Glacier Education? (company website)
Note the absence of any scientific—or shall we call them scientific™?—expertise. The below corporate boilerplate nonsense is found on the more extensive German ‘About us’ subpage:
Climate protection is a transformation that must be accelerated and can only succeed if we work together. Our goal is therefore to empower companies and their employees to transform the climate and thus anchor climate protection in the DNA of all companies.
Thus CEO Andreas Tschas about their small contribution to the betterment of the world.
Glacier is Austria’s leading consultancy (advocacy) company (sic) with respect to the UN/WEF’s ESG compliance. Hence, their main sales pitch is this:
Net Zero from Day 1
That is our commitment! We see it as our duty to set a good example [soon to be everybody’s duty, if you like it or not]. We know: the future belongs to those companies that communicate their climate targets honestly and transparently [two things: if someone claims to know better, it’s a clear sign of ‘secret’ knowledge that the cult deputy leaders have but you don’t; second, note the sleight-of-hand—it’s about ‘communication’ of ‘climate targets’ (ambitions), not about actually doing something substantial]. Vague target definitions and a lack of transparency, on the other hand, are often signs of greenwashing [the iron law of cultist indoctrination is: always accuse others of that which you’re doing]. That’s why we create full transparency and give you an insight into how we at Glacier protect the climate.
If you’d click on the link on their website, you’ll be able to read a five-page document, which includes the following introduction (that gives away their game):
We commit to being climate neutral from Day 1. We will reduce our carbon footprint [note the future tense, i.e., that’s in the future] as far as possible and will only offset unavoidable emissions [i.e., greenwashing, much like, for instance, Oslo Airport].
In all Glacier operations, we pledge to continually strive to reduce our environmental impacts [note, once more, a ‘pledge’ to ‘strive’—more promises], particularly our carbon emissions. Whilst management is responsible for ensuring compliance [that’s literally the one job of management] with this policy and establishing the framework conditions, we recognize that sustainability is the responsibility of all of us [damn you, you janitors, who waste stuff], at every level within our organization.
There are a total of eight policy goals Glacier ‘commit[s] to taking action’, using, incidentally, another grammatical variety indicating possible future action.
At the bottom (aim 8) is, of course, the carbon offsetting scam, and the following lines conclude the policy (sic):
This policy is a framework that enables Glacier and all employees to integrate climate action in their operations. Our vision is a world where Climate Action is part of every company’s DNA [why the weird obsession with ‘DNA’? Of course, it’s to tell everybody this is about a system/culture change: if ‘sustainability’ is a company’s core task, it’s no longer part of the market economy as profit is no longer the top priority]. Only by building internal climate intuition [sic] Glacier can act as a role model [read: vanguard] and inspire others for climate action [note that if you don’t comply ‘voluntarily’, they’ll force you to do so].
A few more quotes from their ‘Climate Academy’ shows their shtick:
The Climate Academy is an efficient ‘green upskilling’ solution for your entire workforce. The modular training programme, which is based on short learning units, supports your company in quickly and comprehensively building sustainability skills and achieving your climate protection and sustainability goals. The interactive learning offer not only increases the motivation of your employees [an empty claim, if there ever was one, sayeth I but certainly everyone else who even once suffered through remote ‘training’ courses], but also provides the necessary awareness, basic knowledge, and the crucial skills to recognise sources of emissions in the company, identify ESG hurdles and develop sustainable measures and solutions [told you it’s brainwashing]
There’s of course much more, but I’ll delimit myself to citing one more snippet of insight here:
Framework-based Competence Development
All Climate Essentials learning modules are based on the proprietary Glacier Framework for sustainability competences [lol, a collectivist agit-prop outfit claiming proprietary rights is hilarious—esp. as these are remote things we’re talking about: how does one acquire a (any) good if it’s digital? I mean, one doesn’t own any physical stuff, with perhaps the exception of a printable ESG/Climate Ranger diploma™ (a medal for everyone who ‘completes’ such a ‘course’); it’s the same with, say, downloaded content on iTunes, GooglePlay, or the like: who owns the 0s and 1s?]. Over the course of their learning journey [it’s always a journey, hence you must come back later for the next-level module], employees develop the awareness [conscientisation] and basic knowledge to understand the background, challenges, and opportunities of climate change. Through application-oriented competences, they are also empowered to develop sustainable work and professional practices and to drive climate protection and sustainability in your company [get brainwashed into activism]. The Climate Essentials thus make an active contribution to the sustainability transformation in your company.
Who is the man behind Glacier, you might ask? Thankfully, once-bourgeois daily Die Presse sheds some light on him (published 12 Nov. 2020):
Andreas Tschas (37) has always been a visionary connector of people [orig. Menschenverbinder]. He was just 20 years old when he founded [in 2003] icons—consulting by students, a student consultancy that is still successful today. When nobody in this country knew what start-ups were, he invented the Pioneers Festival. In 2018, Economics Minister Margarete Schramböck [nominated by the woke conservative™ ÖVP of Covid tyrant Sebastian Kurz] brought him into politics as head of her newly founded digitalisation agency. In 2019, he jumped ship, as highly praised as he was motivated. ‘I can contribute more outside the system’, he said. And immediately went in search of the next topic close to his heart, ‘one that really has an impact.’ [note that Mr. Tschas was at the heart of politicking but noticed he couldn’t do a thing]
Platform, Community, Climate Day
He found it in climate change. For the father of two young daughters, ‘the topic became more and more present for me. And if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s inspiring people, setting up good teams, and building global projects’. [modesty isn’t Mr. Tschas’ strong suit]
He is now doing this with Glacier, a platform that provides solutions for reducing the carbon footprint [lol, re-read their ‘modules’, if you need]: ‘There are already so many. Thousands of new ones are added every day, but nobody knows about them.’ [how wonderful this well-connected operator knows the right people in politics, among industry leaders, and among legacy media].
He and his team summarise these solutions for companies—from buildings to vehicle fleets—an an e-playbook that provides an overview of best practices [note that there’s apparently no scientific advisory board or anything that smacks of quality control as to what kind of information is fed into these summaries; note that their annual ‘Responsibility Report 2023’ also doesn’t cover this particular aspect (but it mentions the ‘World Resources Institute’ and the ‘World Business Council for Sustainable Development’, and please see below for these two entities)]. ‘Anyone who is part of our community gets access to the e-playbook, instructions for the measures and, if they want, support during implementation.’ [what does one have to do to become ‘part of [their] community’?]
The prices are moderate: 999 euros annual membership for small companies, 9,999 euros for large companies. Included is participation in the ‘Climate Impact Day’, which takes place every year on 18 May and is intended to encourage the employees of these companies to get even more involved and come up with their own ideas: ‘CO2 reduction is not a top-down issue. It must be anchored in the DNA of every company.’ [this means—it’s to create what’s called a ‘mass line’, that is, a top-down, vanguard-directed ‘grassroots’ movement to showcase ‘bottom-up’ support; it was successfully perfected by Chairman Mao]
The timing—in the middle of the second coronavirus lockdown—is ‘perfect for him. Because people need a ray of hope. So that they can change something in small steps.’
Now you know who the brains behind Glacier are, too.
Finally, mention shall be made of these two inspirational entities mentioned:
‘World Resources Institute’ was founded in 1984 with a grant of US$ 15m from the MacArthur Foundation; according to its 2023 report, contributors incl. Google, TED, USAID, a bunch of governments (Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, among others), but there are also the foundations (sic) by Jeff Bezos, Bill & Melinda Gates, the Rockefellers, IKEA, and the EU, among many others. Read up on its Wikipedia entry.
The ‘World Business Council for Sustainable Development’ is, according to Wikipedia (sic), citing Greenpeace—and thus another one of these shady ‘ecological’ pressure groups—‘among the key players responsible for holding back the world societies from tackling the climate change and energy management challenges for the past 20 years. The WBCSD Executive Committee was dominated by the largest non-renewable energy and carbon-intensive companies in the world at least until 2011.’
The World Business Council has since changed, that is, according to notorious pro-City of London shill The Guardian whose Jackie Willis published a pluff piece in 2014 about the WBC’s ‘Vision 2050’ whose core aspects boil down to this:
Vision 2050 suggests governments and civil society must re-evaluate expectations and create a view of the future where ‘economic growth has been decoupled from ecosystem destruction and material consumption and re-coupled with sustainable economic development and societal well-being’.
Living well in 2050 will mean all people have access to, and the ability to afford, education, healthcare, mobility, the basics of food, water, energy and shelter, and consumer goods [note that being able to afford something doesn’t mean ownership]
You can read up on WBCSD’s history on their dedicated website. It was founded by Maurice Strong in 1991 and emerged fully in the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit.
Bottom Lines
You kinda expected something along these lines, didn’t you?
Isn’t is amazing how virtually every green leaf one turns, it is the same networks, nonsense, and gaslighting that is underneath?
Among the one thing that unites these shenanigans is—grift. Glacier’s clients include, needless to say, a who is who of the corporate financiers of these international non-profits, in particular WBCSD: there are Google, Pfizer, Strabag (Austria’s biggest, formerly state-owned, construction conglomerate), Generali Insurance, and hundreds more.
Often, these are the same corporations that also fund ‘non-profits’ and activist organisations that agitate and put out claims that the Green™ initiatives are both necessary and working at the same time.
How does one spell ‘conflict of interest’ among these grifters?
So, it’s hardly surprising that these shenanigans are continuing, and thus is my little series entitled ‘The Greatest Grift of All’:
And do remember, it’s not ‘just’ govt, politics, and consulting that’s in on this grift: they’re supported and, in fact, cheered on by journos™ from the climate inquisition dept. all the way:
So, this series will be continued before too long…
Except for the obvious financial loss, I don't think it will have that great an effect on Ruefa. My experience with such courses is that people appreciate the day or several off from actual work, the free lunch and if it is a course over several days then probably also a nice dinner. The content will fly right past them and will be forgotten within a week. Nothing in the actual work will change, but the employer can tick of a box on the do-good checklist.
One has to give it to (T)schas though. The grift he has going is good, although its success may be due to everybody knowing it's a grift but not caring, as long as they can tick off those boxes. Also, I think the reason why he left from an actual government position may have been that one can make much more money as a consultant hired in by the people one knows in government.
AD 1025: Pilgrims going to the Holy Land to bring back a certain sea shell to prove they actually went there. Pretty soon you could by such, with "written proof", in harbours and docks in SE Europe.
AD 2025: Tourists going abroad make sure to pay their plenary indulgence beforehand, so they can carry proof of their piety. Pretty soon, there'll be the opportunity to buy the same or similar symbols on-line, much cheaper, so others can see how pious one is.
I think some days I may be addled: "Wear this symbol to prove you're a good person"? Haven't we, as a species and a culture done that enough times by now, to understand?