History
The Green Globe program traces its roots back to the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, where 182 heads of state from around the world endorsed the Agenda 21 principles of sustainable development. The Earth Summit was unprecedented for a U.N. conference, as it was the first time world leaders acknowledged, as a group, that consumption of non-renewable resources was leading to environmental degradation.
In the early 1990's the term sustainable tourism was in its infancy. Pioneering tourism operators concerned about the effect their operations had on the environment and how best to measure that impact, were often categorized into special interest tourism. Green Globe was developed to provide a way forward for tourism organizations who were interested in measuring their environmental impact and then developing and implementing strategies to reduce those impacts.
Following the Summit and after 2 years of additional development, a Green Globe membership program was established. By the end of 1994, 19 travel industry associations had endorsed the program and through joint marketing strategies, promoted Green Globe to their members.
By 1995, Green Globe membership had risen to 350 in 74 countries. Green Globe's environmental program played an important role at World Travel Market and helped World Travel Market organize the exhibition's first Environmental Awareness Day.
The Green Globe destination program was designed in 1997 to extend corporate improvement and Agenda 21 principles to communities. Pilot programs were initiated in Vilamoura (Portugal), Jersey, Crete and Corfu. The first regional partnership was established with Caribbean Hotel Association under the banner of the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism CAST ( http://www.cha-cast.com).
By 1998, membership in the Green Globe program had risen to 500 entities in 100 countries. Also in 1998, a strategic alliance was formed with the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) of Australia, in which the CRC would act as a global research facility on sustainable tourism, actively promoting the Green Globe program.
In March 1999, Green Globe presented its annual Green Globe achievement awards to 20 companies at ITB Berlin, one of the world's leading trade shows for the travel industry. Under the WTTC umbrella and together with the International Hotel & Restaurant Association, Green Globe's certification and destination management program was highlighted at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, which took place in New York in April 1999. Green Globe also became a separate and autonomous organization from the World Travel & Tourism Council in 1999.
In 2000, Green Globe Asia Pacific (GGAP), a joint venture involving Green Globe, Ltd. (UK), was launched at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Conference in Hong Kong.
The 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg provided the structure for Green Globe to assist businesses in achieving the desired outcomes for sustainable tourism. The program was also developed to comply with the Mohonk Agreement, which summarized the guidelines for an international sustainable tourism certification program.
Green Globe Accreditation was established in 2002 to maintain quality of assessment services offered through accredited certification bodies, including SGS (worldwide), AJA (worldwide) Groupa Mendez (Mexico) and GT Certification (South America). Assessors were trained on four continents to deliver local assessment services.
Leeds Bradford International Airport was the first airport to achieve Green Globe certification and Le Roche Hotel Management School in Bluche, Switzerland became the first educational establishment to achieve Green Globe certification.
In 2003, Shell Gas (LPG) became the first Green Globe corporate partner ( http://www.shellgaslpg.com/site/page/77/lang/en). In the same year, Green Globe participated at the GREEN EXPO in Barbados,Tourism New Zealand Conference, ITB Berlin, WTO events in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Bahia in Brazil, IH&RA Conference in Cairo, PATA in Bali.
A new Green Globe website is launched in 2004 with enhanced information on customers and support material to achieve benchmarked and certified status.
Since its inception, Green Globe has developed into the global benchmarking, certification and improvement system for sustainable travel and tourism, the world's largest industry.