Tourism Declares

We are delighted to sign up to Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency. This is an initiative that supports like-minded tourism businesses to take action to reduce their carbon footprint. The advice from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030.

Since 2004, The Mountain Company has promoted sustainable and responsible travel. There are significant economic and social benefits to the Himalayan countries we visit. Travel helps maintain local communities and encourages conservation efforts. Tourism provides people with a better understanding of the world. This reduces global conflict and division among cultures.

Over the years we have taken small steps to minimise our impact on the environment. From our early days of operation, we used carbon offsetting through ClimateCare. Our trips are "slow" travel where our longest itineraries are more than a month. Furthermore, most of our trips are trekking holidays using predominantly human power.

Yet, it is clear this is not enough and that much more needs to be done. We see the effects of climate change on our Himalayan holidays. Glaciers are shrinking and weather patterns are less reliable with more extreme weather events. This is why The Mountain Company, along with other reputable travel companies, has declared a Climate Emergency.

Like all signatories, we have committed to the following five actions:

1. Develop a ‘Climate Emergency Plan’ within the next 12 months, which sets out our intentions to reduce carbon emissions over the next decade.

2. Share an initial public declaration of our ‘Climate Emergency Plan’, and update on progress each year.

3. Accept current IPCC advice stating the need to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030 in order to keep the planet within 1.5 degrees of warming. We’ll ensure our ‘Climate Emergency Plan’ represents actions designed to achieve this as a minimum, through delivering transparent, measurable and increasing reductions in the total carbon emissions per customer arising from our operations and the travel services sold by us.

4. Encourage our suppliers and partners to make the same declaration; sharing best practice amongst peers, and actively participate in the Tourism Declares community

5. Advocate for change. We recognise the need for system change across the industry to accelerate a just transition towards carbon-free tourism