At Choose a Challenge we firmly believe that challenge events are one of the most worthwhile activities that a person can choose to do. They combine the exercising of the desire to challenge oneself, with fundraising for worthwhile charitable causes and discovering some of the world’s most treasured sites. As part of this, we believe that for any trip to be worth running, it should be carried out in a sustainable, ethical and transparent operational manner - from initial booking, to your return home, and we are committed to ethical and sustainable practices in all areas of our work.
CARBON OFFSETTING
Carbon offsetting is the counteracting of carbon dioxide emissions with an equivalent reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere. This is usually done by contributing to a climate cause which actively removes carbon from the air, for example through planting trees.
For the first time, in 2020, we are offering all of our participants the opportunity to offset the vast majority of their trip’s carbon emissions.
Read more about our progress and how it works here.
LOCAL IMPACT & WELFARE
We firmly believe that all challenges should be locally led, which is why our in-country teams are made up of local people with expert local knowledge and a genuine passion for the sites and communities in which they are based, rather than sending Western guides over to run trips.
All of the guides, porters and support staff that represent Choose a Challenge are paid a fair wage, and we operate with strict limits on how much weight they are each permitted to carry. Many of our in-country partners are also members of their local porter welfare associations, and are affiliated with local community projects in addition to their commitments through partnering with us.
FUNDRAISING & CAUSES
All of our challenges have one thing in common: they're all designed to raise as much money as possible for some of the world's most worthwhile charitable causes, and our fundraising packages are built on an industry-standard 50:50 fundraising ratio with this in mind. We’re extremely proud to be part of a growing movement which helps to nurture the dedicated fundraisers of tomorrow for our partner charities.
We currently partner with multiple charities across a wide range of causes, and in the 2018/19 season alone we raised over £1 million in direct donations to the work of our wonderful charity partners.
INTEGRITY & TRANSPARENCY
We are proud to be members of multiple accreditation agencies, and we’re always working towards new schemes to ensure we remain the most informed, transparent, sustainable, safe and inspiring travel company around. We’re currently members of multiple standards agencies, including ABTA and ATOL, and accredited by Travellers Against Plastic (TAP) and Tourism Concern as an Ethical Tour Operator.
Our commercial partners are granted access to our risk assessments, as well as all up-to-date licences and certificates, providing the reassurance that they are collaborating with a professional tour operator.
SINGLE-USE PLASTICS
In 2018, we took the Travellers Against Plastic (TAP) pledge to help fight the harmful consumption of single-use plastics through our operations. In all our destinations, water is purified from local sources for our participants.
In remote areas where this is not possible, our team prioritise large, decantable cooler bottles which are later recycled. Where the provision of safe drinking water is not possible, our teams adhere to a ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mantra.
ANIMAL WELFARE
We take animal welfare extremely seriously, and we do not produce or promote itineraries which facilitate or encourage the mistreatment of animals. Our animal welfare policies are strongly influenced by industry-standard ABTA guidelines on the treatment of animals. When sourcing ground agents, we will not partner with non-compliant agents and take the opportunity to help to educate non-compliant agents in best practice.
We’re proud to be an active member of ABTA’s Animal Welfare Working Group, which means we’ve got our ear to the ground on all animal welfare issues the world over, meaning we’re literally at the table helping to report animal welfare issues and enforce positive change within the industry.
PROTECTION & ADVICE
As a tour operator, we recognise our responsibility to inform and educate all of our participants on all of the necessary requirements and need-to-know information ahead of their travel. This includes entry requirements and visas, vaccinations, training, currency and more.
Our in-house Operations team receive daily bulletins from ABTA regarding all safety and security incidents occurring the world over, and we work to the guidance of these bulletins and those of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to inform our incident response.
All of our packages feature financial protection for our participants, thanks to our participation in ABTA and ATOL financial protection schemes.
The Choose a Challenge Tree Planting Project
We’ve been supporting tree-planting in Zambia Luanshya through WeForest since August 2019. Your contributions to offset your flights will help us on our journey to carbon neutrality by supporting the smallholder farmers in reversing deforestation there. Find out more here.
Still have questions?
If you still have questions about our sustainability and ethical policies and practices, please feel free to get in touch with our team via email at hello@chooseachallenge.com
