Far reaching sustainability regulations are challenging companies worldwide and there is significant pressure to comply.

VIEW: Is Your Hotel’s Sustainability Certification Scheme Legit?

To gear up for a whole new level of scrutiny, hotel owners and operators will need to scrutinize their partners and conduct due diligence before choosing a Sustainability Certification Scheme or re-evaluate their existing scheme to manage risk.

Here are 3 questions to ask your sustainability certification scheme provider:

1. Is the certification scheme officially accreditedby an accreditation body in the place where the business is registered and originates, or in an EU Member country?

If the answer is yes, ask which one?

If the answer is ‘GSTC Recognised’, this only means that the criteria is aligned with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). The certification scheme is not accredited since the GSTC has no jurisdiction over the certification process and is not an accreditation body recognized by the International Accreditation Forum.

They should be accredited by the accreditation body of the country where the certification programme originates and/or in an EU Member country. The accreditation body must be listed by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF-ML).

Examples of national accreditation body in the EU are Raad voor Accreditatie (RvA) in the Netherlands and the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH (DakkS) in Germany.

Examples of popular international sustainability certification schemes and labels are EarthCheck, the International Organisation for Standards (ISO),  Green Globe, Green Key, and Travelife. The national accreditation bodies in their country of origin are:

– EarthCheck originates from Australia and the accreditation body is the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JASANZ).

– Green Globe and BCorp originate from the USA  and the accreditation body is ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), or International Accreditation Service (IAS), International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS), or United Accreditation Foundation (UAF).

– Green Key originates from Denmark and the accreditation body is the Danish Accreditation Fund (DANAK).

– Travelife originates from the UK and the accreditation body is the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).

If the Certification Scheme does not issue the certification, ask which certification body is the “Conformity Assessment Body” (CAB). This CAB must be accredited by a National Accreditation Body only and listed by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF-ML).

CAUTION: If the Certification Scheme does not answer any of these questions and do not have proof or evidence, your certification may be marked as not legitimate and raise doubts due to the lack of accreditation and transparency.

2. Who is conducting the audit?

– Ask your auditor if he/she is sent by the Certification Scheme provider. Check the Certification Scheme website to check if the auditor is listed.

– Ask your auditor if he/she is contractually appointed by a certification body (CAB) accredited by the authorities to audit “Management systems – Products & Services” according to ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 or ISO/IEC 17065:2012. Ask for evidence.

– Ask your auditor to prove with evidence that he/she has the competence requirements to provide audit services according to “ISO 19011 Management Systems Auditing” and that he/she has been appointed to an accredited CAB accredited by an Official National Accreditation Body.

CAUTION: The certification scheme provider should not be involved in the auditing and certification process. If the auditors are not appointed by an Accredited Certification Body (CAB), the audit is not legitimate due to the lack of accreditation and transparency, creating uncertainty about whether it is an independent third-party audit. Instead, the audit may be considered an internal audit or simply consultancy, but not “Certified.”

3. Are there any conflicts of interest between the Certification Scheme Advisors/Consultants and Auditors?

– The certification scheme provider should not be involved in the auditing and certification process.

– The certification process should only be carried out by an impartial and independent third party accredited by the authorities.

– The body issuing the certification should only be the Accredited Certification Body (CAB) and not the certification scheme provider.

CAUTION: Under no circumstances should the consultant, consultancy firm, group of consultants or foundation provide consultancy and audit services simultaneously, nor act as a certification body. The advisor and auditor should not be working in the same company or umbrella of companies.

CAUTION: In the hotel industry, there are certification schemes with misleading methodologies and practices. Two or more freelancers who are independent (an entity without staff according to the Chamber of Commerce in their countries) but work under the same name, advisory group or foundation – one does the implementation and the other the audit – under one umbrella and acting as an unofficial or illegal certification body.

3 CRITERIA FOR CERTIFICATION SCHEMES TO BE REGISTERED UNDER A CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT BODY (CAB)

1. The certification scheme must be science-backed and based on EN ISO 14024 Type 1 Ecolabeling Scheme standard. These schemes are exempt from additional verification if they are officially recognized in at least one EU member state and can be marketed across the entire EU without needing further verification.

2. The certification scheme must have an independent audit that is transparent, legitimate and conducted by an organization recognized as a CAB.  The CAB must be entirely independentof the certification scheme.

3. The certification scheme must have an aggregated sustainability performance scoring or grading system.  Recognising how many years a company has been part of a certification scheme is permitted.

CAUTION: Regulations prohibit the use of certifications where individual point score “level ups” or aggregate scoring for their certification. An example is scoring whereby the more optional measures one takes, the higher the level that is achieved, i.e. 10 points gets a Bronze stamp, 20 points gets a Silver stamp, and 30 points gets a Gold stamp.