Measurements
- We will start to make calculations of emissions made in our existing tours as accurately as possible, we will do this for each tour separately and also calculate the amount of all tours together. This will be already existing tours since it would be impossible to calculate the emission amount for all tailor-made tours.
- We will start to calculate the total our client’s CO2-emmissions made in their international flights to Nepal, and make a calculation per customer.
- We promise to be transparent regarding our measurements and we will use them to reach our goal of reducing our CO2-emmissions.
Energy & Water
- We provide information (to suppliers & staff) on local energy issues, and we inform them about the advantages of renewable energy and encourage them to make a shift towards it.
Travel & Transport
- We include information on how to fly more sustainably (minimize number of layovers, choose a sustainable airline, choose an economy seat, pack lightly baggage) on our general page about sustainable tourism. We discourage taking domestic flights and helicopter flights.
- We include information about local public transport in Nepal (which means of transport are possible, safest, most sustainable) on our general page about sustainable tourism. This information is included in the travel plan of the clients.
- We want to increase the duration of stay, with a minimum of one day. We will do this by promoting and explaining it through our website, on our general sustainable tourism page, as well as promote it through our e-mail communication.
- We try to encourage our clients to rather make a ‘’long travel’’ (of a minimum of 14 days) once a year instead of several travels that last shorter each year. We want to do this by promoting and explaining this through our website, and put it on our general sustainable tourism page, as well as promote it through our e-mail communication. We will give suggestions to make published treks and tours that are shorter than 14 days longer.
- We include the promotion of traveling to Nepal in low season on our general sustainable tourism page, with an elaborate explanation off all its advantages.
Staff & Work
- We continue to facilitate meetings and external meetings via conference call at every possible opportunity to reduce the need for physical travel.
- We promote and encourage our staff (or their children) to join Climate Action Movements and support them to participate in climate strikes.
- Once a year, we organise (together with our staff) an awareness campaign, that will include collecting rubbish.
Materials & Waste
- We inform suppliers and staff about waste management and how to recycle and encourage them to do so. This way we want to create more awareness.
- In our office we do waste management by segregating the different types of waste, and we sell them to local recycle agents. This is for these agents often their only means of income.
- We encourage our guides to clean garbage on the trekking trails, together with the clients.
Food & drinks
- On the sustainable tourism page of our website, we promote vegetarian/vegan meals and will make maps of where to find restaurants that provide plant-based meals/vegetarian/organic meals. These maps are published in the online travel itinerary of our clients.
- We encourage staff members to bring a reusable water bottle to work, as well as encourage customers to bring their own reusable water bottle to Nepal, or give tips where to buy reusable water bottles in Nepal and we give tips on (if there’s no water refill station available) how to still to use as less plastic as possible, by buying a large water bottle (or jerry can if possible) so they have access to clean drinking water and can refill your own bottle several times.
- We encourage all the accommodations we work with to install water refill stations and provide this for free to the customers.
Trips & Accommodation
- We develop treks that require a minimum amount of transportation and rely on walking and hiking. We prioritize treks that don’t need domestic flights, and offer alternatives for flights if possible.
- For each of our already made tours we want to make it an option to include at least one extra ‘’meet-the-local’’ activity or a local homestay.
- We inform and actively encourage small-scaled local homestays, lodges, teahouses, and other accommodations with whom we work together, to apply more sustainable practises into their homes.
- We prefer working with family-owned, small-scale accommodations: guesthouses, small hotels, teahouses, home stays, farm stays.
Information & communication
- We provide customers with tips and information about how to be more climate-friendly (via email) BEFORE (booking a plane, packing your suite case) our trips and DURING (visiting sustainable places, no single use plastic, minimize waste in general and recycle, don’t use air conditioner, etc.) our trips.
- We make maps which shows were to find sustainable shops, and include those in their online travel itineraries.
- On our website, we will provide the calculated Co2 emissions made for our tours. Besides that, the calculated offset amount is given, for which they can compensate by donating to a project.
- On our website, we include elaborate information about how to make your trip (before and during) more sustainable.
Advocacy
- We will actively support calls for ending unfair subsidies for aviation and share them on our social media platforms to create more awareness and encourage others to take action.
- We support efforts to subsidise cleaner forms of aviation.
- We actively support and participate in networking sessions and capacity trainings about sustainable tourism in Nepal.
Finance
- Each year we donate a certain amount of money to fund sustainable projects in Nepal, concerning conversation, re-wilding projects, agriculture, renewable energy, education for all or woman’s empowerment.
- For each booked trip, we want to donate a fixed number of trees per booked trip.
- We give customers ideas to which projects they can donate for their carbon offset.
