Travel & Tourism
Up Norway: Protecting the places people come to see
How Norway's leading premium travel company became Noora's first customer, and what it means for the future of responsible tourism.
Industry
Travel & Tourism
Based in
Norway
Approach
Beyond Value Chain Mitigation
When your product is nature, ignoring the climate crisis isn't an option
The challenge
Up Norway offers some of the world's most sought-after travel experiences — bespoke journeys through Norwegian fjords, mountains, and Arctic wilderness. The landscapes are the product. And those landscapes are under pressure.
The travel industry has long faced a reckoning: the experiences it sells depend on the very ecosystems most threatened by the emissions it generates. Up Norway's CEO Karoline Hoff puts it plainly:
"Nature is the reason we exist. When we invite guests to experience the fjords and the mountains, we also take on a responsibility to look after those places. It's not enough to just avoid making things worse — we have to try to leave every place we visit a little bit better than we found it."
Karoline Hoff
CEO, Up Norway
Up Norway was already working hard to reduce its own operational footprint — optimising routes, partnering with local suppliers, choosing trains over flights. But Karoline and her team understood that reducing alone wouldn't be enough. They needed to act beyond their own value chain, contributing to solutions that could match the scale of the problem.
The partnership
First in, and proud of it
Up Norway became Noora's very first customer. That timing wasn't accidental. It was a deliberate choice to invest in a credible local solution at the earliest moment — before the market validated it, before the metrics were mature, before it was easy.
What drew Up Norway to Noora wasn't just the product. It was the approach: science-led Improved Forest Management projects in Nordic forests, verified with satellite data and on-the-ground measurement, with full transparency on what each tonne represents.
"We liked Noora's approach, their ambition, and their focus on doing things properly from the start. For us, it was important to contribute early so that these types of local initiatives can grow. It's about taking action here and now, even if we are still learning along the way."
Karoline Hoff, CEO, Up Norway
The partnership is explicitly structured as a contribution to global climate action — not an offset claim, not a greenwash. Up Norway frames this investment under Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM): making transparent financial contributions to climate solutions while continuing to reduce internal emissions. Both tracks, running in parallel.
And critically, Up Norway wanted to support something close to home.
A dual strategy. No trade-offs.
The approach
Up Norway's climate strategy runs on two tracks simultaneously — and they're clear that one doesn't excuse the other.
Reduce first
Actively cutting operational emissions: local suppliers, rail over air, lower-footprint itineraries built into the core product.
Then contribute beyond
Supporting Noora's Nordic forest projects as a transparent contribution to global climate action — distinct from offsetting claims.
For Noora, this kind of early-stage commitment from a customer like Up Norway is what makes high-integrity projects possible. Pioneer buyers don't just buy credits — they make the whole system work.
Start somewhere. Don't wait for perfect.
A message to the industry
"My best advice is to just start somewhere. Don't wait until you have all the answers. Start by looking at your own operations — how your guests travel, who you buy services from. Then find good partners who can help you do even more. Be honest about what you're doing and what you find difficult. The most important thing is that we move in the right direction."
Karoline's advice to other travel leaders is characteristically direct:
Karoline Hoff
CEO, Up Norway
Up Norway's commitment shows that climate leadership in travel isn't about perfection. It's about transparent action and direction. And it's about understanding that if nature is your product, protecting nature is your business.
About Up Norway
Norway's leading bespoke travel company
Up Norway creates premium, tailored journeys through the Norwegian landscape — from fjord expeditions and mountain hikes to Arctic wildlife encounters. They work exclusively with small local suppliers and design itineraries that are as good for the places they visit as they are for the guests who travel there.
Under the leadership of CEO Karoline Hoff, Up Norway has become a model for how luxury travel and climate responsibility can coexist — and reinforce each other.