Renew Press Release

Informed by science and backed with supplier-specific data, Renew’s trips emit 554kgCO2e per traveller per itinerary – 42.35% less than the average trip to Sri Lanka. Renew is the brainchild of a collective of Sri Lankan travel professionals, in collaboration with international tourism consultants including Chalana Perera (Sri Lanka), Ged Brown (UK), and Shivya Nath (India).

Born out of the global climate and local economic crisis, Renew offers a renewed approach to travel on the island. Renew is not just more immersive for the traveller, it is also geared towards protecting Sri Lanka’s natural and cultural heritage while encouraging slow, mindful travel that is built around meaningful connections and a deeper understanding of a sense of place. In Renew’s thoughtfully designed itineraries, local, community-oriented, nature-centric experiences meet global carbon measurement and reduction frameworks. Renew allows travellers to rediscover the traveller experience – something that has been blurred by the onset of mass travel. Renew’s itineraries feature a combination of adventure, culinary indulgence, culture, heritage and an abundance of biodiversity – while ensuring travellers remain well off Sri Lanka’s commercially trodden tourist routes.

Efforts to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of Renew’s trips

We embarked on an 8-step journey to curate trips that have a much lower carbon impact than the average trip to Sri Lanka:

1. Alignment with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, to follow globally accepted standards on the methodology used to calculate Renew’s carbon footprint.
2.  Shortlisting hospitality partners based on commitment to conservation, rewilding, regeneration, local and Indigenous communities, and sourcing from hyper-local networks.
3.  Working with hospitality partners to understand their emissions, including supporting many to build an accurate estimate of their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
4. Developing guidance specific to the Sri Lankan context to advise suppliers to reduce their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
5. Investing in electric vehicles, to become one of Sri Lanka’s few travel outfits to offer low-carbon transportation on the island – along with making our trips more adventurous with diesel-free boat journeys, electric tuk tuks, and plenty of cycling and walking!
6. Choosing food providers to offer meals that focus on locally grown, organic, seasonal and plant-based ingredients, and directly benefit Sri Lankan farmers and the local biodiversity.
7. Creating an in-house carbon rating framework for Renew’s accommodation, transport and food partners.
8. Determining the overall carbon footprint of Renew’s trips, along with the carbon footprint per traveller per day on each trip.

“The true beauty of the world lies not in the number of places you explore, but in the impact you make in helping to preserve them.” – Dilshad Saddiq, Vice President

“We travel not to escape, but to engage, with cultures, communities, wildlife and the planet” – Madara Kulatunga, Head of Impact Travel

Author: Shivya Nath – Award-winning travel storyteller. Sustainable tourism speaker and consultant