Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, today a global hospitality chain with over 75 properties in over 60 locations, has been a steward of social responsibility since its founding in Mumbai, India, in 1903. As part of India's premier business house, the Tata Group, Taj Hotels and its holding company, the Indian Hotel Company Co Ltd, are committed to serving its many local communities by furthering education and skills training, particularly among rural populations; preserving Indian art, culture and wildlife, and promoting sustainable, environmentally sound operations.

In an endeavour to reinstate its vision and efforts to boost sustainable tourism and integrate environment management in all business areas, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces presents EARTH (Environment Awareness & Renewal at Taj Hotels), a project which reiterates the conscious effort of one of Asia's largest and finest group of hotels to commit to energy conservation and environmental management. EARTH has received certification from EarthCheck, the only worldwide environmental certification program for travel and tourism.

Taj Hotels has joined the internationally-recognised EarthCheck benchmarking and certification system as an extension of its existing environmental policies. Taj Hotels has long recognised that as a leader it has an important contribution to make and a responsibility to demonstrate to others how they can be part of the fight against climate change.

Having implemented the Environmental Awareness and Renewal (EARTH) programme, a project which began as a conscious effort to commit to energy conservation and other sustainability strategies, Taj Hotels was one of the first groups to join the tourism industry in its efforts.

With environmental management gaining utmost importance across sectors and industries, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces will consciously focus on spearheading several efforts primarily in the engineering and energy conservation areas.

Currently driven by several initiatives under the Eco Taj Policy, Taj Hotels will map the best practices under EARTH and drive them across all areas of operations and new product development in the group. This also marks the Group's efforts in continuing to build and sustain awareness of discerning customers who are socially conscious.

EarthCheck will provide the EARTH project with independent and comprehensive proof of their environmental commitment through the monitoring and improvement reports EarthCheck will produce for Taj Hotels each year as part of the certification procedure.

Taj Hotels commitment to sustainability has its pragmatic purposes as well With a vision to create sound environment management in its operations as well as product development strategies, Taj Hotels has always believed in improving the quality of life of the communities and has been committed to environment conservation. Caring for and protecting the environment is an essential part of corporate ethos.