EarthCheck, the specialist organisation that sets benchmarks for environmental awareness and conservation for the hospitality industry, has awarded 2013 Silver Certification to Phuket’s Centara Grand Beach Resort.
“Green and sustainable tourism is at the heart of our corporate culture, and we have been working with EarthCheck for several years to ensure that we operate our hotels to strict environmental standards,” said Centara’s chief executive officer, Thirayuth Chirathivat.
“We have set our own internal targets for progressing through the certification levels, and it gives all of us immense satisfaction to say that our targets are being achieved.”
EarthCheck operates an Environmental Management System, a series of practical tools for the benchmarking and certification of operations practices.
The environmental performance of each property is monitored against policy, benchmarking the indicators against baseline and best practices. The environmental and social impact is measured through the EarthCheck Online Self Assessment.
All results are assessed and verified by third party auditors on an annual basis.
To achieve Silver Certification all participating hotels are required to have a sustainable policy in place and to implement an environmental action plan for proper monitoring and measurements on 10 key performance areas, namely greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, management of freshwater resources, ecosystem conservation and management, social and cultural management, land use planning and management, air quality protection, wastewater management, solid waste management, and elimination of environmentally harmful substances.