Green Globe & BISA gather momentum
25 February 2011 – Section: News – Category: Industry news, BISA news
Since the beginning of BISA’s partnership with Green Globe in 2010, BISA has been developing its Essential Spa Standards (ESS) in an extended version including Green Globe’s sustainability criteria. In February 2011 these criteria will be presented in Los Angeles by BISA member Dr. Peter Zimmer (Futour) and incorporated as part of the Green Globe worldwide “catalogue of sustainability”.
Green Globe is the most widely accepted and internationally recognized sustainability label. It is based on all three dimensions of sustainability: environmental performance, social responsibility and economic productivity. In the process of certification, we can discover new methods to reduce costs, further improve both internal and external processes, as well as increase the effectiveness of marketing.
When Green Globe started certifying spa facilities in 2010, Marion Schneider, a committed advocate of sustainability, took the plunge and submitted her two spas, the Toskana Therme Bad Sulza and Toskana Therme Bad Schandau, for certification as the first spas worldwide.
To be able to display the Green Globe Certification label, a company or spa facility must achieve at least 51% on average of more than 300 criteria and indicators and commits to improving this by 3% per year. The audit is completely web-based, and the process is verified by a neutral, independent third authority.
Green Globe offers “Solution Partner” status to all enterprises in the spa market, which has been taken up by companies as illustrious as Thonet, and provides the opportunity to improve one’s visibility in a worldwide market through authentic efforts for environmental conservation, social responsibility and economic efficiency.
Three active BISA members have already taken the initiative and applied for and successfully acquired Green Globe certification: Sonal Uberoi from Spa Balance in Spain and Portugal, Ute Rührig whose company Quality Spa Associates GmbH is certified and who is now herself a Green Globe auditor, and Jörg Demuth with his sustainable range of cosmetics Anika Organic Luxury.
In the past few weeks, Falkensteiner hotels and TUI Cruises have become Green Globe partners, 18 new Green Globe auditors have been appointed and Mövenpick has certified its 69 hotels worldwide. Klafs Sauna is also in the process of certification, after having being very active in sustainability for years.
If you are interesting in improving the sustainability of your company and operations and at the same time to raise your public profile, now is the time to act!
BISA and Green Globe are paving the way!
Ute Rührig, BISA Chairperson of Accreditation