Our Sustainability Initiatives

Our Polar Promise

Polar Exploration and Sustainability

Quark Expeditions is profoundly committed to operating in an environmentally responsible way. Protecting the places we visit is necessary to ensure we can continue to introduce travelers to the spectacular beauty of the polar wilderness. Through Polar Promise, our comprehensive sustainability strategy framework, we’ve incorporated existing sustainability initiatives into a cohesive plan to identify where we can do better or do more.

“Quark Expeditions recognizes its responsibility to do more to protect these magnificent places,” says Andrew White, President of Quark Expeditions. “We want to go beyond reducing our footprint. We want to work with other leaders in the industry and with our guests to address the complex and challenging issues facing the polar regions.”

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Four Pillars

Our Polar Promise framework is made up of four pillars. Each addresses a different aspect of our business, our operations—and ultimately your journey.

PRINCIPLES
Embedding responsible practices throughout our business, whether it’s in polar wilderness or in the places we work each day.

PLANET
Reducing our footprint and building resilience through best practices and advanced sustainability technologies.

PARTNERSHIPS
Making a positive impact on the people, environment, and communities we visit through outreach, collaboration, and innovation.

POSITIVE IMPACT
Inspiring and empowering our guests to make changes that create positive impacts, wherever they live.

Principle Pillars

Principles

Good governance practices are fundamental to building a robust framework for Quark Expeditions' sustainability initiatives. By anchoring our operations in principles informed by leading impact assessments, we ensure that our sustainability initiatives are strategic, actionable, and measurable. This foundation is essential to align every team member with our sustainability goals so that together, we can drive meaningful environmental and social outcomes.

By 2025, Quark Expeditions will establish sustainable governance practices informed by leading impact assessments.

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Planet

Environmental stewardship is at the heart of Quark Expeditions’ operations. We are working to reduce our carbon emissions per passenger by 20% through fleet upgrades, operational efficiencies, and technology investments. We are also collaborating with our supply chain partners to measure, report, and reduce our collective environmental impact. Additionally, we are committed to reducing, reusing, or recycling 100% of waste on Quark Expeditions-owned vessels.

By 2025, Quark Expeditions will reduce carbon emissions per passenger by 20% from 2019, and the Quark Expeditions-owned fleet will be zero waste to landfill.

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Partnerships

We believe in the power of collaboration to drive meaningful change. By working together with employees, guests, local communities, and other organizations that work in the polar regions, we strive to create a positive impact that goes beyond what we could do alone. From supporting community development projects to engaging with polar science and conservation, our collective efforts help us ensure that our operations are beneficial for all involved.

By 2025, Quark Expeditions will continue to lead change through community engagement and by supporting scientific, conservation and sustainable development in polar communities.

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Positive Impact

Many organizations place carbon offsets at the center of their sustainability strategies. At Quark, we believe that this is a short-sighted approach to running a sustainable operation. To have an enduring positive impact, it is necessary to achieve tangible reductions in our carbon footprint, but also to inspire our guests to make changes in their own lives and advocate for broader changes in their communities.

By 2025, 5% of guests join the Polar Ambassadors program, which seeks to further activate impactful environmental action following their return home.

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Land Acknowledgement

Quark Expeditions acknowledges and affirms the Articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and recognizes Indigenous peoples' inherent rights and historical territories.

Our office is located in the Toronto region, the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. We acknowledge that this land is covered by Treaty 13, signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties, signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.

The areas we visit - the Arctic, subarctic, and coastal regions of southern South America - are the traditional homelands of many Indigenous Peoples. These include the Inuit within Inuit Nunangat covered by the Nunavut Agreement , the Inuit of Kalaallit Nunaat, and the Yagán and the Selk’nam of current-day Patagonia. These places have complex colonial histories, about which we have much to learn.

We offer our gratitude and respect to Indigenous Peoples for their enduring wisdom and stewardship of these lands and waters. We honor the ancestors who cared for these territories as well as the present-day guardians who continue to safeguard the ecosystems, historical sites, and sacred places that we have the honor of visiting.

Reconciliation is an ongoing process for us all. We are committed to partnering with and learning from Indigenous communities to ensure our presence is respectful and contributes positively to their lands and cultures. Connection to land, histories, languages, and cultures is essential to identity. We honor this connection as we work to build a We invite you to learn more about the people who have inhabited the land you are on or are visiting.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

When we launched our Polar Promise, we carefully considered our industry, our stakeholders, and our global impact. It is designed to be comprehensive and account for our social impact and ability to influence other organizations, in addition to our direct ecological impact.

To create a coordinated effort to promote sustainable development, we used the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for our Polar Promise. Specifically, we targeted five of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals on which we can have the most significant impact.

Blue Marine Foundation Partnership

Taking climate action by supporting healthy oceans

Our objective is to help conserve the stunning coastlines and marine life that enrich your holidays and restore ocean ecosystems that are vital in tackling climate change.

Together with our sister travel companies, we intend to donate at least £1 million over the next 3 years, with an aim to support the conservation and restoration of 7,000 hectares of vital marine ecosystems through seven global projects.

From the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, Kenya to Indonesia, these protected “blue carbon ecosystems” have the potential to remove and store thousands of tonnes of carbon every year. They will also help protect a rich diversity of coastal and underwater wildlife, including endangered species.

Our support will also enable the training and employment of local communities in marine conservation, helping ensure these beautiful places are preserved for generations.

*Quark Expeditions is a member of the Travelopia group of travel companies which has come together to partner with Blue Marine Foundation

Our Promise

Sharing the last two great wildernesses on the planet with our guests is a great privilege for all of us at Quark Expeditions. And with this privilege comes great responsibility, something each of us embraces wholeheartedly. We have an unwavering belief that true progress is rooted in collaboration, innovation, and a steadfast commitment to doing better.

Polar Promise is not just a commitment. It’s a rallying cry to lead by example, inspire others, and build a future where sustainable expedition travel is the norm, not the exception. Whether we’re assisting guests in planning their next polar adventure or guiding them on a kayak expedition in the Arctic waters, protecting the polar regions is paramount in everything we do.

Our journey through the past year has been marked by important strides in sustainability. As we continue to navigate the polar seas and create life-changing experiences for our guests, we pledge to uphold our promise, ensuring that the beauty and wonder of the polar environments endure for the next generation to cherish.

- All of us at Quark Expeditions