Last Thursday, November 20th, the annual Tourist Board conference was held at Grand Hotel in Reykjavík. In the end of the day a company that has been outstanding in its environmental work is chosen to get the Icelandic Tourist Board's annual Environmental Award and this time it was our company.. jei! 

According to Minister Skarphedinsson, Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism, we deserve the award for our focused strategy and our clear aims for continuous environmental improvements in our business.

About our sustainability policy:

Ever since we started our business, we have been looking for a way to minimize the environmental impact and pollution caused by our activities. We therefore decided to apply for the Green Globe  (EC3 Global) environmental management system and for the Blueflag international eco-label. During the past two years we have made radical changes in our daily operations in order to implement our environmental policy.

We also decided to take part in a demonstration project testing hydrogen fuelled vehicles and vessels, called SMART-H2 (Sustainable Marine and Road Transport, Hydrogen in Iceland). On board our flagship Elding, an Auxiliary Power Unit has been installed - a fuel cell and battery unit that runs on hydrogen. The APU works as a generator and provides electricity on board for navigation, light and various other modules that run on electricity. The project is a key factor in our environmental work and it is important for Iceland as a tourist destination to test and use local alternative fuel.

In our sustainability policy special emphasis is put on:

- Striving to find non-polluting energy sources to run our operations

- Minimizing the consumption of energy

-  Minimizing the use of materials required by our activities

-  Minimizing the production of waste and improving recycling

We furthermore adhere to the requirements of the Green Globe Company Standard and send in annual Benchmarking data on our environmental performance to Green Globe. We will set annual targets and make year to year improvements in relevant Green Globe Sector Benchmarking Indicators. The staff is committed to comply with relevant environmental, public, and occupational health and safety, hygiene and employment  legislation and regulations. We give preference to environmentally safe products and services of local origin that do not adversely affect the organization’s operational activities, viability and environmental and social impacts. Our aim is to educate our visitors about the sea and the sorrounding we operate in and to provide regular environmental and safety training to our staff.

We believe that making optimal use of environmental resources is a key element in tourism development to maintain essential ecological processes and help to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity. Our goal is to operate on sustainability principles, which refer to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. A suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability.

Pure energy and nature are the main reason for a prosperous tourism in Iceland, so let’s fulfill today’s needs without threatening future possibilities!

Photo from the award ceremony. From left: Ólöf Ýrr Atladóttir, General Director of the Tourist Board; Grétar Sveinsson, Rannveig Grétarsdóttir og Vignir Sigursveinsson from Reykjavík Whale Watching / Elding, Össur Skarphéðinsson Minister for Industry; Sveinn Rúnar Traustason, environmental representative of the Tourist Board.