Our Impact

Embracing our responsibility as a travel operator

Our Mission: Teach young people about sustainable development, using the power of travel to inspire them to travel, work, and live in a more positively impactful manner.

The Challenge: Now more than ever before the planet and its people need sustainable travel. Growing CO2 emissions from flying, overtourism, and other challenges mean we have a duty to take action. Read on to see how Kagumu is tackling the issues.

Our Climate Promise: Measure, Reduce, Remove, Repeat

We are in the midst of a climate emergency.

There is no doubt about it. And tourism has a significant part to play: Over the last decade, tourism emissions have grown twice as much as total emissions, by an average of 3.5% per year.

Here’s what we’re doing about it:

Measure

We label all of our trips with a daily emissions average, share our annual carbon footprint and offer advice to travelers on how to reduce their own emissions.

Per person our current average CO2e emissions per trip is:
– 15kg (the equivalent of heating your entire home for two days)
– or 116kg including international flights (the equivalent of almost 2 months of hot showers for somebody)

Working with third-party experts Ecollective, we know we’re as accurate as we can get – no greenwashing, just facts.

Reduce

We are always looking at ways to reduce the carbon footprint of our trips. We currently include:

Zero beef on menus and a fully vegetarian day on every trip.

No internal flights on newly designed itineraries.

Low emissions activities (we have measured these too!) that focus on thriving local communities and conservation.

Local transport and accommodation providers that share our vision.

Remove

Our Climate Partner, Tomorrow’s Air, not only supports innovative projects working at the cutting edge of carbon removal but also shares our passion for sustainable travel and education.

We remove 30kg of CO2e from the atmosphere for every traveler by contributing $30 each time to Tomorrow’s Air.

You can do the same!

Our 2024 Impact:

3.5 tonnes of CO2 removed through cutting-edge carbon capture technology with Tomorrow’s Air.

1.200 native and fruit trees planted with Environomic, a conservation project building alliances with local communities in the Sierra Nevada, Colombia.

And repeat…

Annual audits, updated objectives, constant improvement.

Here’s our full climate action plan

Community At Our Core

People eating lunch on a long table and smiling

We don’t just visit communities, we invest in them.

From taking bold action against overtourism’s harmful effects, to empowering locals to build thriving businesses that celebrate their neighborhoods with visitors.

“When I started to work with Kagumu I learned how to develop my tours, to include local food, visit local projects, work with new clients and value what I do by charging for what it’s worth. Thanks to Kagumu I realised I could build partnerships, connect with other people and offer full day incredible experiences.” Mary, Local Tour Guide, Comuna 3

Our success is based on the respect, care, communication and strength of our relationships with all of our project leaders, social entrepreneurs, local guides and providers that make our trips unique.

Building Alliances for Meaningful Change

Nobody can make long-lasting, global change alone! That’s why we are committed to building networks locally, nationally and internationally.

ACOTUR Member – a powerful network dedicated to conserving Colombia’s natural and cultural heritage and strengthening the country’s social fabric through ethical and sustainable tourism initiatives.
Travelife Partner -Recognition of our commitment towards social and environmental sustainability. We comply with more than 100 criteria and are working towards further improvements aiming to eventually reach the Travelife Certified stage.
Glasgow Declaration Signatory – a commitment by the tourism sector to tackle climate change.
University Coalition – as a member we offer free annual SDG-focused webinars to University students

Life changing adventures

95% of students that join us for an adventure say that they are excited to continue on their sustainability journey.

“I’ve already started confronting complex social and environmental challenges being back home which I did not really pay close attention to before I did the Jaguar programme.” Amya, Student Nazareth School

Our carefully curated trips connect travelers with incredible environmental projects, inspiring community activists, and important sustainability practices that show the life-changing power of adventure!

Read our full sustainability policy commitment here.

Please contact our Impact Lead to discuss anything related to impact – [email protected].