The Indian School of Nature (ISN) sees its recently signed MoU with the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) as a major step towards bringing sustainability measurement and certification into a much larger part of India’s organised tourism sector.
The three-year agreement, signed during IATO’s annual convention in Visakhapatnam last week, will see ISN audit the carbon footprint of IATO’s annual conventions and undertake carbon audits of its more than 2,000 member businesses. The audit of this year’s convention is already underway, with the report expected within a month.
Speaking to TravelBiz Monitor, Ram Pratap Singh, Founder, ISN, said the scale of the partnership makes it particularly significant, as IATO represents a substantial share of India’s organised tour operating sector.
“If 60% or 70% of the partners come on board, sustainability for travel in India becomes a very big story,” Singh said.
The carbon audit of the Visakhapatnam convention will also look at emissions associated with delegates travelling to the venue, which Singh identified as one of the biggest challenges in measuring the event’s carbon footprint. ISN will subsequently advise IATO on measures to reduce the convention’s footprint.
The larger part of the agreement, however, is the proposed audit of IATO members over the next three years. The exercise will cover businesses across segments, including DMCs, technology companies and hotels, with ISN undertaking the carbon audits on a pro bono basis under its open-source model.
Singh believes that bringing the organised sector into a common sustainability framework could eventually influence the wider tourism ecosystem.
The IATO partnership builds on work ISN has been pursuing over the past few years to develop tools for measuring and certifying sustainability. Singh said the organisation, which operates as a Section 8 non-profit company, approached the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for authorisation to issue certifications for sustainable travel and sustainable agriculture and has received the required licence.
Alongside audits and certification, ISN conducts training programmes and knowledge-exchange workshops. It currently works across three broad areas — sustainable travel, climate-compatible agriculture and climate communication.
The organisation has already undertaken sustainability audits with other tourism organisations on a smaller scale, according to Singh, and plans to approach more national and regional tourism associations in the coming months.
“The idea is to make India future-ready for sustainable travel by 2030,” he said.
The need for credible measurement and certification is also gaining urgency with new EU rules aimed at curbing greenwashing. The EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive will apply from September 27, 2026, placing tougher requirements on environmental claims made in marketing and restricting vague or unsupported claims.
For tourism businesses, this has particular relevance given the widespread use of terms such as “sustainable”, “responsible”, “eco-friendly”, “carbon neutral” and “net zero” in the promotion of hotels, destinations and travel products.
Under the new framework, environmental claims and sustainability labels need to be supported by appropriate evidence or recognised certification mechanisms. Carbon-neutrality and similar climate claims based simply on purchasing offsets also face tighter restrictions.
Singh said the changes should prompt Indian tourism businesses to review the claims and certifications they currently use in their communication.
“There is a lot of greenwashing going on. Greenwashing has to be taken off the radar,” he said.
He sees the IATO MoU as an important headstart in preparing the industry for this changing regulatory and market environment.
ISN drew industry attention last year when it launched two innovative software-based platforms designed to measure the environmental footprint of travel and hospitality businesses. These include a Carbon Balance Sheet calculator for hotels and an Itinerary Carbon Calculator for travellers and tour operators.
Travel Operators for Tigers (ToFT) India had bestowed the “Climate Guardian of the Year 2025” award to ISN for its contribution to sustainable and responsible tourism in the country.
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