Our impact
We run coasteering, sea kayaking and climbing from our HQ near Tenby. The activities themselves use no engines. The HQ runs on the sun. Specifics below – with the bits we don’t claim called out too!
Is Tenby Adventure environmentally sustainable?
We don’t use “sustainable” as an absolute label about ourselves – that’s a phrase regulators and customers have learned to treat as marketing fluff. Here’s what we actually do and what we measurably operate:
- Our Tenby HQ runs entirely off-grid. There is no mains electricity connection. A 15 kWp rooftop solar array and 15.8 kWh battery cover the building’s electricity needs. From March to November the array produces an average 20 kWh/day surplus over what the HQ consumes. Live generation is published above.
- Our van is charged from the same off-grid solar array. Typical operational use is 20-30 miles/day; the main array faces south-east, well oriented to capture morning generation while the van is at HQ.
- The coasteering, kayaking and climbing sessions themselves are human-powered. No engines run during a session.
- Where conditions permit, our guides recover marine litter and ghost fishing gear during sessions. If we find something substantial (a lost fishing net or a load of rope) we return to recover it after our sessions. We log what we gather.
- Our typical activity sites are within 5 miles of HQ, so operational transfers are short.
The list of things we don’t claim is at the bottom of this page.
How does Tenby Adventure reduce its impact?
Four levers, in order of how much they count:
- The activity itself. Coasteering, sea kayaking and rock climbing are non-motorised. The only fuel burned during a session is cake.
- Our HQ. Off-grid, no mains connection. Our 15 kWp solar array and 15.8 kWh battery cover the building’s electricity needs, with a 20 kWh/day average surplus from March to November. Cumulative clean generation since installation: 7.1 megawatt-hours
- The e-van. Charged from the same off-grid array. Typical operational use is 20-30 miles/day, moving kit and guides to and from launch sites. The main array faces south-east on purpose, to push generation into the morning charging window before the van leaves HQ.
- What we bring back. Where the session and conditions permit, we recover marine litter and ghost fishing gear and log it: weight, piece count, location, date.
The areas where we don’t yet have a strong answer: the manufacturing footprint of our kit (wetsuits, helmets, harnesses, ropes); how guests reach Tenby in the first place (covered separately under car-free access below); and the embodied carbon of the van itself, which only pays back over its operating life.
Does Tenby Adventure power its building from solar?
Yes – entirely. Our Tenby HQ has no mains electricity connection. A 15 kWp rooftop solar array and 15.8 kWh of battery storage cover the building’s electricity year-round. From March to November the array produces an average 20 kWh/day surplus over what we use – enough headroom to charge the van without leaving the building short. Live generation appears on this page and on our About page; cumulative clean generation since installation is visible at the top of this page.
Does Tenby Adventure run an electric van?
Yes. We charge our van from the same off-grid solar array as the HQ. Typical operational use is 20-30 miles per day – picking up kit and guides, getting to the launch site, and back. The main array is south-east-facing, deliberately oriented to push generation into the morning while the van is at HQ.
To our knowledge, based on publicly available information as of May 2026, we are the only Pembrokeshire activity operator charging our van from a fully off-grid solar array. If another operator is doing the same and we’ve missed it, please get in touch – we’ll update this page.
Is Tenby Adventure carbon neutral?
No. We don’t claim to be, and we don’t intend to. “Carbon neutral” is a specific accounting concept that requires a complete operational footprint inventory plus credible, additional offsets – for many small businesses that genuinely calls into question whether the claim survives regulator scrutiny. We’d rather direct effort to lowering our actual footprint (solar, EV charging, short transfers, gear longevity) than to building an offset-supported neutrality claim that the ASA’s Green Claims Code is increasingly sceptical of.
What we do track is the things we can measure and reduce: solar generation, vehicle-charging mix, and marine litter recovered. We don’t use any motorised craft on any session.
Does Tenby Adventure use green / renewable energy?
Yes. Our HQ’s electricity comes from the 15 kWp rooftop solar array and 15.8 kWh battery storage. The HQ has no mains connection.
What environmental certifications does Tenby Adventure have?
[PLACEHOLDER: Mark to confirm. Honest options:]
- If nothing held: “We don’t currently hold an external environmental certification. We are weighing up Green Tourism and similar schemes; in the meantime we publish the specifics on this page so you can judge directly.”
- If anything held: State the scheme, the level (where applicable), the year awarded, and link to the scheme’s listing of TA where one exists.
The Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) licence we hold and our Pembrokeshire Coasteering Concordat membership are listed in the Standards section further down – they cover safety, operating practice and environmental performance.
Can I reach Tenby Adventure without a car?
It depends which activity you’re booking. We don’t transport customers – for insurance and licensing reasons – so the car-free question is really about whether you can reach the meeting point for your specific session.
Kayaking – yes, easily. Our kayak sessions meet at Tenby harbour, which is a short walk (roughly 5 minutes, almost all level) from Tenby rail station. Transport for Wales serves Tenby on the West Wales Line’s Pembroke Dock branch. Train, walk, kayak.
Coasteering – yes, with planning. Coasteering sessions meet at the launch site itself – usually Lydstep or Stackpole. You make your own way there. Realistic options vary by site:
- Lydstep – we meet 5 mins walk from Lydstep village. Bus 349 (First Cymru) stops in the village from Tenby in both directions, year-round.
- Stackpole / Bosherston / St Govan’s – Coastal Cruiser bus (387/388) in summer (late May to early October). Winter service drops to Thursdays only. Fflecsi (Transport for Wales’ demand-responsive minibus) may also cover these areas – check directly with Pembrokeshire Voluntary Transport (0300 234 0300) before booking a session.
- A taxi from Tenby is a realistic fallback when bus timing doesn’t fit your session – roughly £12-35 depending on the launch.
Climbing – yes. Climbing sessions typically meet at Becks Bay Camping, two miles west of Tenby (between Tenby and Lydstep). It’s a 30-40 minute walk from Tenby town along the coast path or A4139 footway, a short taxi from Tenby (~£8-12), or reachable on bus 349. Becks Bay is also a campsite – if you’re already staying there, the climbing meets you on site.
We’ll confirm the exact venue and meeting time when you book. A detailed Car-Free Pembrokeshire page maps the options by activity and site. Live times: check Traveline Cymru or Transport for Wales before you travel – we don’t republish live times because they go out of date.
What standards does Tenby Adventure follow?
(These are safety, operating and animal-welfare standards. Listed here for completeness – they are not environmental certifications.)
- AALA licence – issued by the UK Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (licence no. [PLACEHOLDER]). Covers staff competence and operating procedures.
- Pembrokeshire Coasteering Concordat member – the Pembrokeshire code on coasteering operating practice and wildlife disturbance.
- Pembrokeshire Marine Code (Outdoor Context certified) – wildlife-disturbance standards for activities on the Pembrokeshire coast.
- Pembrokeshire Outdoor Charter member.
How does Tenby Adventure protect Pembrokeshire wildlife?
We work to the Pembrokeshire Marine Code and the Pembrokeshire Coasteering Concordat, both of which set out how to operate around seal haul-outs, breeding birds, and other sensitive sites. In practice that means we plan around the calendar – for example avoiding certain coves during seal pupping season – and adapt routes to conditions on the day.
Where we encounter litter or lost fishing gear during a session, our guides recover it when it’s safe to do so. We don’t run “beach cleans” as such; we run activity sessions that include cleanup where the session allows.
How are Tenby Adventure groups led?
Small groups, with experienced guides. AALA-licensed; Pembrokeshire Coasteering Concordat operating standards. Small groups are better than large groups. They’re also less disruptive to wildlife and shorelines than larger ones.
What we don't claim
We mention this because some operators are less specific about it than we'd like. We are not:
- Carbon neutral. See above.
- Net zero. Same reason.
- Fossil-free / fuel-free. Our van's manufacture, the diesel of the train you arrived on, the petroleum-derived neoprene in the wetsuits - none of that is fossil-free.
- A zero-impact / zero-emission activity provider. Even a paddle-only kayak session has lifecycle emissions from the kit, the transfer to the launch and the food we ate that morning.
- The greenest / most sustainable / first / only [unspecified] - except where we've explicitly stated the source and date of the comparison, and only with the hedge "to our knowledge".
- An organic / regenerative / climate-positive business. None of those terms have a definition we could meet without specific evidence.
If you spot us using any of those phrases on this site without the specifics behind them, please tell us.
How we know - evidence pack
We keep the evidence behind each claim on this page in a single folder. We're happy to share specific items with journalists, researchers or other operators on request:
- Solar installation certificate and inverter data.
- Live generation widget - visible on this page and on About.
- Charging-mix data: solar vs grid for vehicle charging, where supplier data permits [PLACEHOLDER: report quarterly once data available].
- AALA licence.
- Pembrokeshire Coasteering Concordat membership confirmation.
- Marine litter & ghost-gear log.
- Typical site list with distances from HQ.
This page was last reviewed on [PLACEHOLDER date]. We re-check each claim against current operations at least annually; the solar and charging-mix numbers we update quarterly.
