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

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

Carbon Neutral® 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 & 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, Vasantha Leelananda, Executive Vice President / Sector Head - John Keells Holdings 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”, Sanith De S Wijeyeratne, CEO of CCC 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”.