Are Sustainable Criteria Worth the Bother?

Last week marked the official launch of The Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism Criteria (STC Partnership), a coalition of 27 organizations that has developed Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. About a year ago, the group came together to form the criteria having reviewed more than 4,500 criteria from more than 60 existing certification and other voluntary sets of criteria.

One of the primary challenges of consumer and business travelers is translating the various sustainability practices of travel suppliers exactly because there is not good certifying organization for the travel industry. Without a common playing ground its hard to make educated consumer decisions.

For example, for hotel options you could look for properties that are EPA’s ENERGY STAR for Hospitality rated, which rates the energy management of a building’s structure. Green Globe is a program of the World Travel & Tourism Council. Their certification is based on Agenda 21 and principles for Sustainable Development endorsed by 182 governments at the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. They have only one participating hotel in the United States, The Lodge on Little St. Simons Island in Georgia. The Green Hotel Association is a fee-based association for lodging properties and vendors that service them, but they have no formal credentialing criteria. Green Seal’s Certification for Lodging Properties focuses on hotel operations. Then there is the Green Hotel Certification. Finally, you could choose a U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certified property which rates the building infrastructure. If you really want your head to spin check out all the options at DestiNet, a sustainable tourism information portal that has a comprehensive list of global travel certifying organizations. Given that each certification or rating focuses on different aspects of a lodging property and a different part of the world, which would you choose?

Back to the STC Partnership. While its a great effort backed by laudable organizations, its seems a bit lightweight to me. Although the criteria are fairly specific, they do not put forth a set of metrics for suppliers to measure outputs and activities. This seems like a recipe for additionally difficult to decipher standards. Couldn’t they have come up with some concrete standards for travel companies to live by?  In the words of Eco Trans European Network for Sustainable Tourism Develeopement: “A vision without action is just a dream.”

What’s your opinion on eco-labeling?  Credentialing organizations?  What works and what doesn’t?  As an ecopreneur, does it make your life easier or not? Please share.

Photo: Roman Olmezov at sxc.hu