Green Globe Certification on Carbon Footprint Calculation

What’s my Carbon Footprint? Inevitably, in going about our daily lives, each of us contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. Yet, there are many things, each of us as individuals – and, on a larger scale, businesses – can do to reduce our carbon emissions.
 

Green Globe members are committed to drive down their greenhouse gas emissions and conserving resources. Greenhouse gas emissions from all sources controlled by the business are measured, and procedures are implemented to reduce and offset them as a way to minimize climate change. Hotels track and compare carbon emissions on a regular basis to quickly identify their highest emitting sources, and see the potential for setting realistic reduction targets.

To determine their carbon footprint, most properties use a carbon calculator, specifically available for the hospitality industry. The calculator measures all carbon emissions attributable to a set of carbon-emitting activities or sources applicable to a facility from an annual perspective. As the hotel enters their "source data", such as electricity consumption, or vehicle miles travelled, the calculator will compute the corresponding carbon emissions by applying "emission factors" (a number describing the carbon intensity of the source). A detailed report outlines the hotel’s footprint with respect to individual emission sources.

Aside from the global environmental aspect, the benefits of managing your footprint are numerous: saving energy and lower energy bills, position hoteliers favorably among growing green customer segments, motivate employees to make greener choices by demonstrating responsible practices, build a reputation as a green leader, as tracking and reporting your footprint is a testimony of doing "best in class business", as well as laying the groundwork for compliance with certification standards.

One of Green Globe’s top performing members, the Inspira Santa Marta Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal, operates as an entirely carbon-free property. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions is calculated, based on the results of the following activities: fuel boilers and emergency generators, diesel oil burnings, travelling in Inspira fleet, air conditioning systems, gas release, waste water and solid waste treatment, staff commuting and air travel.  The hotel integrated several initiatives to minimize the effects of those activities, such as the use of solar heater panels, gas monitoring, raising awareness among guests and staff, give back supplier policies, waste separation and recycling, and green energy consumption.
 

From May 2010 to April 2012 the hotel offset the total amount of 298.20 tons of CO2. During this period, Inspira purchased carbon offsets from the CarbonoZero project portfolio, which helped financing the forestry project located in the Tapada Militar de Mafra, in Portugal, and also a technology development in Brazil called Nobrecel.

Between May 2012 and April 2013 Inspira offset a total of 208 tons of CO2. Compensation was performed by acquiring carbon credits verified (VER’s) by the VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) project: Indian Wind Power Project, reducing carbon emissions in the region of Tamil Nadu, India. This project promoted local development by generating direct employment, and enforced an improvement of road infrastructure in these areas.

According to General Manager, Mr. Nicolas Roucos, "The Inspira Santa Marta Hotel is delighted to have achieved the carbon-free hotel status. It is and remains a very important objective in our overall sustainability initiatives. The main focus, though, has been on reducing our carbon footprint, and also engaging our stakeholders in this process to do the same in order to achieve a more significant impact, locally and globally."