CroisiEurope and Green Investments
To celebrate World Tourism Day, dedicated this year to the "Tourism for Green Investments", we invite you to (re)discover our many commitments and innovations to respect for the environment, which have been an integral part of our culture for several years, both on board our ships and within our company.
Also known as sustainable investment or ethical investment, it refers to reconciling the tourism market with environmental preservation by offering financial resources to human, ecological and innovative projects that make a positive contribution to nature and minimize negative impacts on the planet. The aim is to help companies grow while reducing their ecological footprint and supporting socially responsible business practices.
Aware that nature is CroisiEurope's best ally, our commitment to the environment is a genuine corporate culture anchored in a set of concrete actions, enabling us to navigate the world's waters while minimizing our impact on the environment and promoting responsible practices.
While river transport is one of the most virtuous modes of transport, thanks to its low energy consumption and low levels of CO2 emissions, we take our commitments far beyond legal requirements.
All our boats' engines comply with the strictest European standards and meet the requirements of the Greenship label, guaranteeing an eco-responsible approach focused on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reducing boat engine consumption and noise pollution. In addition, five of our river boats have been awarded the GREENAWARD label, a voluntary certification program for the river industry that promotes sustainable river transport in terms of quality, safety and the environment. We are keen to extend this certification to our fleet, and new boats are regularly joining the program and awaiting certification.
Following our partnership with AS Energy, our fleet on the Seine has now fully adopted GTL (gas-to-liquid), a synthetic fuel derived from natural gas that considerably improves our environmental balance thanks to a significant reduction in emissions of atmospheric pollutants: CO2, nitrogen oxides and particles. Moreover, as a transparent fuel, GTL produces neither smoke nor odors.
Regarding our maritime fleet, in October 2022, we signed the “Croisière Durable Méditerranée” charter, which aims to unite cruise lines in their commitments to the economic development of territories, as well as to the protection of the environment and marine biodiversity in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, by pledging, among other things, to reduce atmospheric emissions and protect marine habitats.
Our entire fleet is made up of human-sized boats, accommodating from 16 to 197 passengers, which enables us to dock in smaller, less touristy ports, thereby reducing the pressure on tourist destinations already overcrowded by many cruise liners, and helping to ease local congestion in towns and villages.
We are also committed to offering environmentally friendly and socially responsible excursions. That's why we use the services of local guides on our tours, not only to provide you with the most authentic experience possible, but also to support local tourism as much as possible. This is also reflected in our food, with dishes inspired by local food, the vast majority of which are chosen by our teams from regional producers. For some time now, we have also been using electric buses during our stopovers in Paris.
If you want to join us aboard one of our elegant barges, you'll have the opportunity to discover the emerging trend of "slow tourism" and take advantage of our bicycles, which are provided on board so that you can stroll along France's canals, via numerous bike-routes and “green paths”. These are more than just cycle paths: they are designed to be environmentally friendly, and are reserved exclusively for non-polluting transport.
More of a walker? Join us on a hiking cruise, where you can combine cruising and hiking in some of Europe's most beautiful places! In Croatia, the Canary Islands, along the Douro, the Rhine, the Danube or the Rhône, our hiking cruises allow you to discover magnificent landscapes and picturesque viewpoints while using the most ecological means of transport available.
Find out more about our cruises
We have been able to reduce our drinking water consumption by 35%, and thus cut our wastewater production, by installing water-saving devices on board our fleet. We're also keen to make our customers as aware as possible of the ecological aspect of their stay, by informing them about the replacement of towels on board, or through the installation of water fountains which enable us to save 30 tonnes of plastic per year (find out more in our recent blog article dedicated to the subject).
From paper and cardboard to glass bottles, green waste and fryer oil, we've been treating our onboard waste responsibly for several years now. All waste is sorted, compacted and recycled. Food waste and biowaste are collected and converted into biogas, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Our actions are not limited to our fleet: we have also implemented a number of sustainability initiatives on the quayside. Indeed, CroisiEurope has signed the metropolitan charter "Tous unis pour plus de biodiversité" (All united for greater biodiversity) in favor of the ecological management of green spaces at its river station, through various actions such as the reduction of light pollution, the protection of fauna or the creation of a pond, in order to preserve biodiversity.
On this World Tourism Day, we are proud to stand out as a tourism company that places green investment at the heart of our business model. We invite you to discover all our actions on our page dedicated to the environment.
We will continue to do our utmost to help preserve our heritage and the natural beauty of our rivers and seas, while offering you memorable experiences around the world aboard our human-scale boats.