EAI perspectives

Globally, about 8% of CO2 emissions (about 4.2 billion tons) are estimated to be from the tourism sector. India has somewhat similar estimates - 10% or about 300 million tons per annum.

For an industry with a diverse value chain - it comprises aviation, road transport, rail transport, water transport, lodging, food and more. Transport constitutes about 75% of the CO2 emissions from this sector, decarbonizing that sector, but with such diverse transport avenues making up the emissions pie, decarbonizing this portion of the value chain will require a multi-stakeholder approach.

What is more within the control of the industry is the decarbonization of the boarding and lodging portions of the value chain. Eco-hotels are a part of this movement. 

While conventional hotels are adopting many energy and resource saving methods to bring down their carbon footprint, others are starting a more bottom up approach. Ecoplore is one such.

Their eco-hotels follow sustainable measures like rainwater harvesting, solar panels, composting, no plastic zone, organic farming, etc. But they go beyond this. It promotes only those hotels that are made of mud, wood, bamboo, stone, or any local architecture, and maintain at least 33% greenery on campus. Their eco-hotels are located near waterfalls, beside rivers, inside forests or on mountains. Most of their stays grow their own vegetables, fruits, and herbs, and you will be served homemade organic meals.

Interestingly, the startup is women-founded and women-managed. 

While all these will sound exciting for many eco-travellers. We feel it is early days for ideas such as these. Scaling these could be a key challenge, but with many stakeholder forces getting aligned towards decarbonization and sustainability, startups such as Ecoplore could find the scaling challenge much less tough than they would have earlier.

Team EAI wishes Ecoplore the very best!