Walkers remains Asia’s only internationally certified green fleet for 4th straight year

Wednesday, 23 November 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Certificate handover (from left): CCC Sustainability Solutions Associate Sajeewa Ranasinghe, CCC Senior Consultant Nik Bollons, CCC Kanishka Jayasinghe, CCC CEO Sanith de S. Wijeyeratne , EVP/Sector Head Vasantha Leelenanda, VP Yohan Peiries, AVP Mario Oorloof, VP Prabath Harshakumar, AVP Kishan Thomas, AVP Vindya Cooray, AVP Sasala Dissanayake

Walkers Tours Ltd. retained its title as Asia’s first and only to own a vehicle fleet that is certified with the leading global environmental sustainability accreditation ‘CarbonNeutral’, for a fourth consecutive year.

CarbonNeutral certification is proprietary to Natural Capital Partners (NCP) from the UK who are leaders in delivering high quality solutions that ensure immediate, positive impact on the world’s natural capital, and was awarded by their regional verification and certification partner – The Sustainable Future Group. The offsetting process first involved a comprehensive audit of Walkers’ entire owned and hired vehicle fleet’s operational Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

The audit was conducted by an independent sustainability consultancy firm – The Carbon Consulting Company (CCC), another regional representative of NCP, who has guided Walkers Tours over the past four years in accurate measurement and reporting of its fleet’s carbon footprint, as well as toward notable reductions of the same. Not stopping at only measuring and mitigating, the company has continuously offset the remainder of its fleet’s footprint since 2012 by investing in renewable energy projects both locally and internationally, via the purchase of registered carbon credits.

Speaking at the handover, John Keells Holdings Executive Vice President/Sector Head Vasantha Leelananda said, “Our CarbonNeutral Certification is a clear statement to our industry that we are committed to responsible tourism and highly value the importance of good environmental practices. We invested in a local project to offset our fleet’s footprint for last year and through such initiatives we’ll make every effort to uplift the sustainable development of our country.”

“Walkers Tours has always been at the forefront of sustainability not just in their industry but in Sri Lanka as a whole,” CCC CEO Sanith De S. Wijeyeratne added. “They’ve looked at ways to offset their carbon footprint and the commitment shown by the entire organisation has been impressive, as they understand the impact they make by offsetting their footprint, which makes them stand out as they strive to be good corporate citizens by promoting responsible tourism, which is on the rise in Sri Lanka.”