Green Key announces its new standard for 2022-2025

Green Key is very proud to announce its new criteria and explanatory notes taking effect from 1 January 2022 and valid until 31 December 2025.

Green Key International and the Green Key National Operators have been working on the revision of its requirements for the past 1.5 years. The revision has also included a hearing process involving the hotel chain partners and other external partners as well as encouraging the public and participating establishments to give input to the new standard.

Green Key’s new requirements have an increased focus on carbon emission monitoring and reduction, reduction of waste (including reduction in the use of single-use plastic and food waste), promotion of circular economy and the protection of the local and global biodiversity. The involvement of the staff, guests, suppliers and the surrounding community through information, training and active engagement remain an important position in the new Green Key criteria.

Finn Bolding Thomsen, Green Key International Director, says: “It is with great pleasure that we can announce the new Green Key criteria/explanatory notes as a result of a long revision process, and I would like to thank all involved for constructive input during the revision period.”

The new standard is valid for the following categories: hotels & hostels, campsites & holiday parks, small accommodations, conference centres, restaurants, and attractions. The criteria/explanatory notes of the accommodation categories are officially ‘recognised’ by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

The new standard has around 120-140 criteria depending on the category with around half of the criteria being imperative and the other half being guideline criteria, and an establishment applying for Green Key must comply with all imperative criteria and an increasing number of guideline criteria depending on the years of involvement in the Green Key programme.

The new international Green Key criteria and explanatory notes can be downloaded HERE. It is now possible for Green Key national programmes to at strengthen/add criteria in relation to the international standard. It is the aim to have national standards published by 1 July 2021 or with six months’ notice.

News from Green Key's corporate partner: Purezza Premium Water

Removing single-use bottled water from your establishment has never been easier!

Purezza Premium Water provides high-quality sustainable water dispensing solutions to thousands of hotels, restaurants and cafés globally. As a leading global provider of drinking water solutions, Purezza offers a complete and comprehensive package to help hotels reduce their impact on the environment.

Purezza Premium Water provides an unmatched level of expertise through our core products and re-usable bottles, complemented by their client support and customer service. The expert team helps venues with practical guidance on the simplest and most efficient methods of setting up their self-bottling operation, from the equipment and serving bottles to cleaning and hygiene best practice. Purezza’s solutions are applicable across various operations where beverages are served. This includes restaurant, bar, conference and event areas, in-room and poolside.

Exclusive offer for Green Key Venues - Sign up with Purezza Premium Water and get these great bonuses with every machine:

• 3 months free rental

• 150 reusable glass bottles

• free installation

For more details; contact Purezza Global Head, Scott Mitchell – scott.mitchell@purezza.com, or your local Purezza office.

Green Key featured in HOTREC’s Business Newsletter

HOTREC (Association of Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe) has highlighted the Green Key programme in their recent business newsletter.

Since HOTREC published its position paper on sustainability in the hospitality industry that included support for environmental programmes such as Green Key, the cooperation between HOTREC and Green Key has intensified.

Recently, Green Key’s International Director, Mr Finn Bolding Thomsen, had the opportunity to be interviewed for HOTREC’s Business Newsletter. Green Key had the opportunity to explain more about the Green Key system and criteria, highlighting the advantages of joining a programme like Green Key and the connections to the European Commission. You can read the full interview here: https://www.hotrec.eu/interview-with-mr-finn-bolding-thomsen-director-at-green-key-international/.

Green Key also had the opportunity to present the programme at a meeting of the HOTREC Working Group on Sustainability. The members of the Working Group representing various national hotel and restaurant associations received a short presentation about the programme, the structure, the criteria and the application process.

Green Key launches first online course on FEE Academy

As part of the Foundation for Environmental Education’s eLearning platform FEE Academy, Green Key launches its first online course that introduces the programme.

Ever wondered how the Green Key programme has been developed, how the award process works or what the benefits of the programme are?  In our new online course, you will learn all of this - and more!  

The course is designed for tourism establishments that want to apply for Green Key, for staff in awarded establishments that need an introduction to the programme, and for basically anyone who is interested in Green Key.  

It is part of the FEE Academy, an online platform that offers courses which are connected to the Foundation for Environmental Education and its five programmes. To enroll in any of the courses, you will need to create an account. Taking the Green Key Introduction Course is of course free of charge. Once enrolled, you have one month to complete the course.  

The Green Key Introduction Course is only the first of a series of courses that Green Key is planning to offer. If you would like to stay up to date on our available courses, sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Social Media Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Green Key growing in Montenegro: Welcome CUE Podgorica!

Green Key is happy to welcome CUE Podgorica in the programme. The establishment located in Montenegro is appreciated for exploring how new technologies can benefit both guests and the environment.

Located at The Capital Plaza, the heart of Montenegro’s capital city Podgorica, CUE Podgorica enjoys a well-deserved reputation of trendy, chic and comfortable hotel with electric atmosphere, good food and excellent service.

But CUE Podgorica is more than just an elegant and vibrant place to be. The hotel also benefits from top-notch technologies used judiciously to monitor and reduce their energy and water consumption. A water leak on the system will be automatically notified and will be fixed within the hour. In guest bedrooms, air conditioning will switch off by itself if windows are opened, lights will turn on with motion detectors in hallways and low consumption light bulbs are used almost everywhere around the hotel.

 Guests can recharge their electric cars using one of the 5 power stations available in the hotel underground parking, go on eco-tours in the Podgorica surroundings or enjoy an electric scooter ride on trails by the Moraca river. All guest information is a simple click away by scanning a QR code and avoiding printing material where possible.

CUE Podgorica represents the avant-garde of the hospitality industry in Montenegro in terms of innovation towards sustainability and we are very honored to count them amongst our new Green Key members. We look forward to seeing how you keep striving for more sustainability in the hospitality industry!

Welcome Landal Middelfart!

The Holiday park Landal Middelfart has received the tourism industry’s international eco-label, Green Key. The holiday park is part of the chain Landal GreenParks, which has a total of seven holiday parks in Denmark.

Since Landal GreenParks came to Denmark in 2018, the holiday park chain has garnered recognition from the international tourism industry for its strong focus on sustainable operation and its efforts for the climate. As a receipt for the green work, the holiday parks in Denmark have been Green Key awarded.

Landal Middelfart will be the chain's sixth holiday park in Denmark to receive the green stamp.

Landal for a greener Denmark

“We are constantly working to make a difference for the climate and contribute to a greener Denmark. This applies in general as an organisation, but also in the daily operation of the holiday parks. Therefore, we are pleased that Landal Middelfart is now joining the list of our Green Key certified parks in Denmark. It is important for us to be able to show our guests that they help to take care of the environment when they choose to holiday with us, and the certification from Green Key contributes to that, ” says Kent Lodberg, Sales and Marketing Manager at Landal GreenParks in Denmark.

Landal took over Sund og Skov near Middelfart

In 2020, Landal GreenParks took over Sund og Skov Conference and Holiday Center, which subsequently changed its name to Landal Middelfart. Already a year after the takeover, Landal Middelfart has been awarded with the Green Key.

About Green Key  

The Green Key certificates serve as a guarantee to guests that shows that the holiday park chain makes a great environmental effort. Strict requirements are set for environmental areas such as water, energy, CSR and sustainable food, in order to achieve the green guarantee. In addition, the certificates require regular inspection visits and ongoing documentation to ensure that all obligations and requirements are met in the holiday parks.

Landal with Green Key in Denmark - and Europe

In Denmark, the chain includes the holiday parks Middelfart, Søhøjlandet, Seawest, Rønbjerg, Grønhøj Strand, Ebeltoft and Fyrklit, all of which offer active family holidays in nature. Since 2018, Landal GreenParks has invested more than DKK 25 million in the development of the parks to ensure sustainable facilities and indoor and outdoor activities for all ages. Landal GreenParks also has a goal of being CO2-neutral by 2030. The goal applies to all 99 holiday parks in Europe.

Mattress spring-cleaning without chemicals

The holiday park Landal Bad Kleinkirchheim in Austria found an effective and ecofriendly way to clean their mattresses, peace of mind and sweet dreams for their guests guaranteed. 

Copyright: Landal Bad Kleinkirchheim

After a long winter season without guests due to the Corona pandemic, the holiday park Landal Bad Kleinkirchheim can’t wait to open their doors again. While the tourist industry went into a forced hibernation, the park management decided to make the best out of the time and started their spring- cleaning early this year.  

In February, all of the park’s mattresses were cleaned and disinfected to ensure their guests that they can expect the highest hygiene standards when returning to Landal Bad Kleinkirchheim. And not only that – the cleaning was done without the use of any chemicals, ensuring that it is not only good for the guests but for the environment as well.  

During the processes, the mattresses are put into a cleaning truck that cleans them in four steps. First, they are vacuumed to remove all organic materials. In the second step, the mattresses are irradiated with UC light which kills 99,99% of the bacteria, viruses and mould on the surface. In the third step, active oxygen is used to eliminate the bacteria in the core of the mattress. In the final step, the mattresses are thermally treated to reduce the humidity in the core. The cleaning system is patented by the company SLEEP TIDY. 

News from our corporate partner: Purezza Premium Water

Green Key is happy to see how its corporate partner, Purezza Premium Water, keeps striving for more sustainability in the hospitality industry through its mission of removing single-use bottles.

Green Key and Purezza

Green Key and Purezza have decided to join forces since 2020 due to Purezza’s sustainability mission. Reducing the high levels of single-use packaging within the hotel industry is an important initiative that is right at the top of priorities in many establishments right now. Removing single-use bottled water from the supply chain and replacing these with a re-usable bottle solution is one of the most cost-effective methods an establishment can implement to make a really positive, immediate impact on achieving its green objectives.

About Purezza

Purezza Premium Water provides high-quality, sustainable water dispensing solutions and re-usable bottles that help venues replace single-use bottles and eliminate transport and delivery costs. As a global provider of freshly dispensed drinking water solutions that has direct supply and distribution in more than 60 countries, Purezza offers a comprehensive package to help hotels remove single-use bottles from almost any space where beverages are served. This includes solutions for the restaurant, bar, in-room, poolside, conference and event areas.

Purezza Premium Water provides guidance on how to implement dispensing services for venues of any size; from a simple installation for a café or restaurant, right up to a full-scale operation, such as dedicated bottling rooms for international hotel chains. Purezza has dispensing systems to suit any space and output requirements and world-leading technology to maximise hygiene and safety. Their flagship dispensing machine, the P2 Firewall™ Bar Classe Series, is the world’s first and only water dispenser in the hospitality industry to incorporate the highly-certified Firewall™ UVC purification technology.  Firewall™ technology has been tested and proven up to 99.99% effective in eliminating bacteria and viruses from drinking water and 99.99% effective against COVID-19. The Classe Series is also the only hospitality water dispenser to achieve the highly regarded HACCP certification globally.

Purezza’s eco-friendly, reusable bottle range replaces expensive pre-packaged water and, in both function and form, provides the ultimate in hygiene requirements whilst simultaneously elevating the user experience for both the venue and the customer.

 A step closer to sustainability

Choosing alternative water solutions like Purezza is a giant step towards adopting sustainable practices and achieving a venue’s environmental goals. Purezza has a high level of expertise through its core products, complemented by its extensive, multi-national client support and customer service network. Green Key International is happy to have Purezza as a corporate partner with the same missions of reducing the environmental footprint.

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For more information, visit www.purezzawater.com

HOTREC recommends Green Key in their sustainability position paper

HOTREC (Association of Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe) has published its position paper on sustainability in the hospitality industry that includes its main actions and the support to environmental programmes such as Green Key.

HOTREC’s position paper on sustainability in the hospitality sector, “Towards sustainable tourism in Europe”, was published in 2020. In the position paper, HOTREC expresses its commitment to support a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The commitment focuses on the contribution of the hospitality industry to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

HOTREC’s four mainline of actions on sustainability include:

a)     the support and promotion of good and sustainable practices

b)    the promotion of the use of energy-efficient products and renewable energy sources

c)     the promotion of actions to reduce food waste in the hospitality sector

d)    the promotion and development of skilled labour through training and career development

HOTREC highlights that sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders as well as strong political leadership. The businesses in the hospitality industry are already increasingly taking action to address sustainability through many operational changes in their processes. HOTREC is strongly encouraging such actions but also highlights the need for public funding and other financial incentives to hospitality businesses to support the transition as well as public support to the education of consumers through awareness-raising campaigns.

HOTREC & Green Key

HOTREC supports the use of environmental labels for tourist accommodation services and restaurants, provided that they are voluntary, focused on a consumer-oriented approach, and be industry-driven. HOTREC highlights the Green Key as well as the EU Ecolabel as two examples of robust and well-run schemes to be further promoted among customers to incentivize the use of these labels. HOTREC also supports various other existing initiatives such as the UN “One Planet – Travel with care” programme, the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics, and “Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative” (developed by the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and promoted by Green Key). Green Key is very proud and appreciates HOTREC’s recognition and is determined to continue striving for more sustainability in the tourism sector!

About HOTREC

HOTREC, the Association of Hotels, Restaurants, Bars and Cafes and similar establishments in Europe, is a non-profit umbrella organisation that brings together 44 national associations in 33 countries. HOTREC is the voice of the hospitality industry in Europe including around two million businesses.

HOTREC’s working groups and committees play an important role in the organisation. The Sustainability Working Group discusses relevant European policy issues related to sustainable tourism and hospitality (lowering the carbon footprint of the sector, energy efficiency, water management, etc.), and favours the exchange of sustainable best practices among HOTREC members.

More information about HOTREC can be found here: https://hotrec.eu.