Andres Fellenberg Van der Molen
Director at Green Partner Europe | Hotels Specialist | Sustainability | Energy Efficiency | Circular Economy | Zero Waste | CSR | ESG | SDG
Beware of hotel greenwashing! It's closer than you think!
5 check points to verify.
The first suspect are green hotel certifications. There are green hotel programs that look, smell, sound and even taste like certification, but they are not! Don't take any risks, choose your green hotel certification correctly!
If any of these points cannot be clarified with concrete evidence, we can conclude that your hotel needs to take strict and quick measures against Greenwashing in order not to damage the image of your hotel.
Check Point #1
Check whether the accreditation body accrediting your certification body is listed in the International Accreditation Forum (IAF.) Ask your certification body by whom they are accredited and find the name on the IAF’s website.
Check Point #2
Check whether the accreditation body lists the certification body conducting the audit. Check the webpage of the IAF or the accreditation body of your country.
Check Point #3
Ensure that the auditor conducting the audit has the competence and qualifications to be an auditor and is officially appointed to an accredited certification body.
Check Point #4
Verify that the hotel’s consulting firm is independent of the certification process without any conflict of interest.
Check Point #5
Check that your hotel’s certification programme does not use Aggregated Scoring.