Protecting the environment

Protecting the environment
Preserving the planet we love to explore
Costa Rica’s lush, leafy cloud forests. Kenya’s vast, wildlife-rich valleys and plains. Iceland’s otherworldly glacial lagoons. These places we visit on tour couldn’t be more diverse, but they all have one thing in common—they’re delicate ecosystems whose survival depends on the health of our planet. To ensure that our world remains beautiful, hospitable, and awe-inspiring for future generations of locals and travelers, we prioritize sustainability when designing our tours and choosing our travel partners. Here’s how.

Putting the planet first
We aren’t alone in our efforts to preserve the planet. In the places we visit on tour, we partner with restaurants, hotels, farms, and other local suppliers who promote eco-friendly practices, which range from waste reduction to the use of alternative energy.
Photo: Taste tomatoes grown with geothermal energy at family-owned Friðheimar Farm on our Iceland: The Golden Circle & Ring Road tour.

Supporting conservation
Appreciating the world’s ecosystems goes hand in hand with helping to preserve them. We prioritize the health of the environment by offering no-impact travel experiences in fragile ecosystems, as well as learning opportunities at protected sites.
Photo: Visit the Great Barrier Reef with an ecotourism-accredited marine biologist on our Highlights of Australia: The Great Barrier Reef to Sydney tour.

Going green
We’re committed to minimizing our carbon footprint. In 2021, we rolled out Hello Zero, an ambitious plan to become carbon negative each year going forward and to offset our carbon emissions dating all the way back to EF’s founding in 1965.
Photo: Enjoy a farm-to-table lunch at an eco-friendly ranch—the country’s first carbon-negative company—on our Costa Rica: Rainforests, Volcanoes & Wildlife tour.
Hello Zero:
The EF Forest Initiative
Find out what we’re doing to erase our carbon footprint—
past, present, and going forward.

A few tours where culture and nature meet
Dive deeper into Responsible Travel
Watch our Responsible Travel webinar, explore our core commitments, and more.