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Sustainability

A narrow dirt path winds through a vast field of purple lupines under a cloudy sky, with two sheep standing in the center of the road, framed by a vehicle's side mirror in the foreground.
Portrait of a woman with dark curly hair and a red scarf standing among trees
Portrait of a woman with dark curly hair and a red scarf standing among trees

Tamara Kocan

Sustainability Lead

tamara@noRTHOFnORMAL.com

The country is the product.
We would like to keep it.

The country is the product.
We would like to keep it.

Most of what we sell cannot be manufactured. The weather, the ice, the quiet, the water you can drink straight from the ground. None of it scales, and none of it comes back once it is gone. So looking after it is not a values statement for us. It is basic maintenance on the thing our whole company depends on.

We are not going to tell you that flying people to a glacier is free of consequence. It is not. What we can do is be honest about the cost, keep cutting it where it is real to cut, and make sure the trips we plan leave the place in at least as good a shape as we found it.

Most of what we sell cannot be manufactured. The weather, the ice, the quiet, the water you can drink straight from the ground. None of it scales, and none of it comes back once it is gone. So looking after it is not a values statement for us. It is basic maintenance on the thing our whole company depends on.

We are not going to tell you that flying people to a glacier is free of consequence. It is not. What we can do is be honest about the cost, keep cutting it where it is real to cut, and make sure the trips we plan leave the place in at least as good a shape as we found it.

Vakinn Gold

Vakinn Gold

VAKINN Quality, Gold-Class Environmental, and Certified Travel Service certification badges

In 2020 we were awarded the Vakinn Gold certification, the highest quality and environmental certification for tourism in Iceland. It took two years and meeting more than 130 criteria, covering everything from staff training and safety to environmental impact and how we treat the communities we work in.

We mention it because it is independently checked, not self-declared. If you are vetting an Icelandic partner on behalf of a client, it is a straight answer to the question you are actually asking: are these people serious, or is this a logo on a website.

Backlit icebergs washed ashore on a black volcanic beach, glowing in low sun

By Freyja Björnsdóttir

Seyðisfjörður

FEB 2026

What is happening here

This is not abstract for us. It is the landscape we drive through every week.

150m

recension of Langjökull between 2020 and 2024

200yrs

until last glacier in Iceland will melt

10x

rate of waters acidifying compared to last 55 million years

What is happening here

This is not abstract for us. It is the landscape we drive through every week.

150m

recension of Langjökull between 2020 and 2024

200yrs

until last glacier in Iceland will melt

10x

rate of waters acidifying compared to last 55 million years

What is happening here

This is not abstract for us. It is the landscape we drive through every week.

150m

recension of Langjökull between 2020 and 2024

200yrs

until last glacier in Iceland will melt

10x

rate of waters acidifying compared to last 55 million years

What is happening here

This is not abstract for us. It is the landscape we drive through every week.

150m

recension of Langjökull between 2020 and 2024

200yrs

until last glacier in Iceland will melt

10x

rate of waters acidifying compared to last 55 million years

Close-up of raindrops streaking down a window, with a hazy landscape blurred behind

BY EINAR SIGURDSSON

HÖFN Í HORNAFIRÐI

NOV 2026

Close-up of raindrops streaking down a window, with a hazy landscape blurred behind

BY EINAR SIGURDSSON

HÖFN Í HORNAFIRÐI

NOV 2026

Close-up of raindrops streaking down a window, with a hazy landscape blurred behind

BY EINAR SIGURDSSON

HÖFN Í HORNAFIRÐI

NOV 2026

Close-up of raindrops streaking down a window, with a hazy landscape blurred behind

BY EINAR SIGURDSSON

HÖFN Í HORNAFIRÐI

NOV 2026

What we actually do

We measure first. We calculated our baseline CO2 emissions for 2022 across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, including the hard, unflattering parts like staff commutes and business travel, so we have something real to improve against rather than a number that makes us look good.

From there, the practical work:

  • Moving our fleet to electric vehicles, [25%]` and rising as the charging network allows.

  • Recycling and composting across eight streams. [~20%]` more recycled than the year before.

  • No single-use plastic water bottles on tours. Guests drink Icelandic tap water from refillable bottles, which is better water anyway.

  • A bulk snack system packed fresh each day into cardboard, which cut both food waste and plastic.

  • Planning routes to avoid empty legs, and keeping the same guide and vehicle with a group throughout instead of shuttling extra cars around.

  • Defaulting to online meetings, supporting home office, and offering staff a green commute arrangement.

  • Choosing suppliers who hold the same standards, and being direct with the ones who do not yet.

None of this is finished. It is a list we are actively working down, not a trophy shelf.

A helicopter flies over black turf-roofed cabins with snow-capped mountains behind

BY FREYJA BJÖRNSDÓTTIR

SEYÐISFJÖRÐUR

FEB 2026

Aerial view of glowing lava erupting from a volcanic fissure, smoke rising against a dark cone
Aerial view of a glacial river braiding across a black sand plain below green mountains
Aerial view of a car driving a road that splits snow-dusted moss and lava fields
A whale surfaces at the center of rippling teal ocean water, seen from above

Working with us

If a client wants to offset, we can point them to credible Icelandic options such as Kolviður, or Carbfix via Climeworks. We will tell you plainly which is which.

You set the tone with your clients, and small choices add up across a whole trip. A few that genuinely move the number:

  • Build itineraries that go deep in one region rather than crossing the country, and skip domestic flights where the drive works.

  • Lean on low-impact activities: hiking, horse riding, biking, kayaking, electric-boat whale watching, the spas.

  • Recommend local food, local makers, refillable bottles, and renting warm clothing here instead of flying it in.

  • Ask our travel advisors for the most sustainable hotels and restaurants on a given route. We keep a working list and will be straight with you about it.

“”

For me it comes down to leaving a place better than it was when I arrived. I don't drive, which in a country where the car is king is its own small adventure, especially in winter. My family lives within a fifteen-minute walk of what we need, we keep things until they wear out, and we buy most things second-hand. When I travel, I take one region at a time and actually look at it.

Tamara Kocan, Sustainability Lead

tamara@northofnormal.is

Portrait of a woman with dark curly hair and a red scarf standing among trees

“”

For me it comes down to leaving a place better than it was when I arrived. I don't drive, which in a country where the car is king is its own small adventure, especially in winter. My family lives within a fifteen-minute walk of what we need, we keep things until they wear out, and we buy most things second-hand. When I travel, I take one region at a time and actually look at it.

Tamara Kocan, Sustainability Lead

tamara@northofnormal.is

Portrait of a woman with dark curly hair and a red scarf standing among trees

“”

For me it comes down to leaving a place better than it was when I arrived. I don't drive, which in a country where the car is king is its own small adventure, especially in winter. My family lives within a fifteen-minute walk of what we need, we keep things until they wear out, and we buy most things second-hand. When I travel, I take one region at a time and actually look at it.

Tamara Kocan, Sustainability Lead

tamara@northofnormal.is

Portrait of a woman with dark curly hair and a red scarf standing among trees

“”

For me it comes down to leaving a place better than it was when I arrived. I don't drive, which in a country where the car is king is its own small adventure, especially in winter. My family lives within a fifteen-minute walk of what we need, we keep things until they wear out, and we buy most things second-hand. When I travel, I take one region at a time and actually look at it.

Tamara Kocan, Sustainability Lead

tamara@northofnormal.is

Portrait of a woman with dark curly hair and a red scarf standing among trees