May 22, 2009

EC3 Global launches Green Globe Lite

EC3 Global launches Green Globe Lite


Green Globe Lite, a global on-line program released today, will – for the first time – provide tourism operators with a user-friendly, affordable tool to measure their business’s carbon footprint and environment performance. The program targets small to medium-size businesses (SMEs) which make up a large percentage of the tourism industry.

Green Globe Lite’s operational health check involves a quantitative assessment of the business's performance in the areas of energy consumption; CO2 emissions; water consumption and waste production. It also provides guidelines for developing and implementing a sustainability policy. It meets international standards for carbon footprint calculation and is backed by the STCRC (Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre), the world's leading tourism research body, which is in turn backed by 17 of Australia's leading tertiary education institutions and industry bodies.

“While the final structure of the Federal Government's carbon pollution reduction scheme is still to be determined, SME tourism operators are recognising the benefits of measuring their environmental performance. Apart from the operational efficiencies, there are demonstrable bottom line benefits of significantly increased savings and profits through better resource management,” explained Stewart Moore, CEO of EC3 Global. EC3 Global manages the Green Globe programme on behalf of Green Globe Asia Pacific.

Melbourne City Council's Savings in the City project benchmarked 20 city hotels for energy, water and waste and introduced sustainable practices. Over two years from October, 2005, the selected hotels saw a combined reduction in waste of 2410 tonnes, or the equivalent of 628 truckloads. One hotel spent $4000 on reducing the energy used for lighting. The changes implemented saved the hotel $15,000 per year in energy costs, and a further $7500 on maintenance.

Incorporating feedback from a series of industry workshops undertaken with Australian Hotels Association (AHA) in 2007, Green Globe Lite addresses sustainable practices within accommodation, restaurant and spa operators; visitor information centres and administration offices. The program has been applauded by the Australian Hotels Association, which is promoting Green Globe Lite to its members. 

“The partnership between the AHA and Green Globe provides hotels across Australia with an affordable, easy-to-use tool to measure and assess their environmental performance. It provides a clear pathway for them to adopt sustainable policies and practices,” said AHA Chief Executive Officer Bill Healey.

At A$850 per annum, the Green Globe Lite program is an investment of only A$2.30 - or a cup of coffee - a day and is undertaken without a third party audit or additional third party input. For further information on Green Globe Lite, visit www.greenglobe.org/greenglobelite or call +61 (0) 7 3238 1900.


EC3 Global launches Green Globe Lite

1 comment:

Steven said...

One of the things that Australia has to be worried about is the carbon emissions. I kinda remember when the sun wasn't as hot as some days in the country. It kinda feels like some kind of heat wave or something. Some years ago you can get out of the house and just drink beer under the sun, lately, you can't even leave the house without any airconditioning for the car or some kind of protection from the heat.