Is Getting A Sustainability Certification Worth It? Here’s How To Decide.
Photo by: Azis Pradana
In this article, we want to show you a simple matrix to help you make a quick decision on whether getting a sustainability certification for your travel business is worth it. If so, which is the right one for you?
We cannot understate the importance of understanding the benefits and barriers of getting a sustainability certification before you start investing your time, energy, and resources.
We have had discussions with a number of travel and hotel business leaders who spent more time than desired on figuring out this sustainability certification puzzle.
Let’s put a stop to that.
We will deep-dive into the following topics:
State of play: barriers and challenges
Benefits of gaining a sustainability certification
Matrix to help you choose the right sustainability program
State of Play
Sustainability certifications are becoming more popular among Asian companies.
Despite high certification fees between US$500 to US$20,000, 2022 has seen a record number of companies in Asia getting B Corp certified.
At the same time, Asian consumers are confused about sustainable travel.
While they increasingly care about how their purchasing decisions may contribute to the climate crisis, most of them cited non-price related reasons such as the lack of access, low variety, and hard-to-verify information and claims that discourage them from making sustainable choices. This requires brands to not only greenify their products and services but also level up their consumer-facing communications.
Some travel companies find it difficult to choose a suitable sustainability certification from hundreds of programs.
It is natural for decision-makers to sway toward the certification they feel passionate about. Some people may feel more strongly about responsible sourcing and green building, while others may be enthusiastic about improving the well-being of workers and local communities.
One of the world’s largest online travel agents (OTA) Booking.com added themselves into the mix of sustainable travel certification providers with its Travel Sustainable badge to recognize its hotel partners’ sustainability practices.
Small-to-medium companies find self-reporting & lengthy processes discouraging.
A large number of certification programs rely on self-reporting and assessment at the early stage, and companies with vigorous bookkeeping practices may find themselves in an advantageous position.
Drawn-out processes take away the resources and time from running a company’s operation for SMEs. Sustainability certifications may appear achievable for larger vs smaller travel and hospitality brands, which arguably defeats the whole purpose.
Benefits
Many companies apply for a sustainability certification because they see a set of tangible and long-term advantages.
Financial
Reduced legal and regulatory interventions
Higher employee retention
Improved guest satisfaction
Operational
Integrated social and environmental evaluation into your business
Streamlined working process
Innovations stemmed from implementing new requirements.
Marketing & PR
a brand differentiator to attract more customers
a validation that you are not greenwashing and actually ‘walking the talk’
B Lab reported that B Corp businesses grow 28x faster than the U.K. average.
It may be true that most Asian consumers are as exposed to sustainable brands and products as their UK counterparts.
Yet, they are willing to pay a premium for eco products and services if available, according to a 2022 Bain report on APAC consumers’ rising preference for sustainable brands. .
Going sustainable is one of the best ways to future-proof your business in Asia.
Consideration Factors
Many companies fail to complete the process as to not having done the required due intelligence and framing the right mindset going into it.
Here are the six factors a travel company can take into consideration:
1. Credibility
Do my target consumers in my key markets recognize and value this certification? What makes this certification more credible than the other?
As the sustainability movement accelerates in Asia, consumers will inevitably begin seeing more eco-labels and start comparing their trustworthiness.
Travel and sustainability professionals can’t overlook the importance of choosing a certification program that has an impeccable reputation to validate and elevate their company’s sustainability commitment and actions.
2. Eligibility
Is my business good enough to apply for this certification?
3. Process
What are the steps and how long is the process?
Having a clear visibility of the entire process prepares your team to get into the right frame of mind and allocate appropriate resources to acquire the sustainability certification of your choice.
4. Scoring
How is my company's performance rated and evaluated?
Not just to avoid rejection and disappointment, your team can get ahead by performing an internal review on the areas of your business that a sustainability certification program will assess before applying.
5. Cost and validity
How much is the fee? How long is the certification good for?
If you are running a small to medium travel company, you may feel disheartened to know the upfront cost of a sustainability certification can be fairly costly.
Some companies that we have talked to even said that they would rather allocate that money in improving their business.
When your business is ready, consider this an investment opportunity, rather than a cost that you cannot recuperate.
6. Customer service
Is my team doing this all ourselves? Does the certification program provide reliable customer support and collaboration opportunities?
One of the main factors that many companies ask during their certification selection process is what sort of customer support the providers offer.
It is a very legitimate question as the sustainability certification market is still in its early stages.
Sustainability managers are hard-pressed to minimize interruptions and hassles to the company through the process. Sound customer service from the certification provider will help the experience be more seamless.
Let us show you how to apply this matrix with three international sustainability programs - B Corp, Preferred By Nature’s Sustainable Travel Program, and Positive Luxury.
They measure a company’s performance in a wide range of areas including employees, community, environment, customers, innovation, etc,.
This matrix can be applied to any other national and category-specific certification programs, for example, built environment certifications like Breeam and ISO 14001, or carbon neutrality labels Climate Neutral and Carbon Trust.
Above all, it is important to evaluate internally if and when your organization is ready to undertake the sustainability certification process.
That will be a topic that we will deep-dive to help you find clarity in a future issue.
Sustainability Certification Programs
Global Sustainable Travel Council (GSTC) establishes and manages perhaps one of the world’s most widely-used sustainable travel standards, known as the GSTC Criteria, which serve as the basis for certifications.
GSTC does not issue certifications. It endorses other organizations that certify travel companies, hotels, and destinations, either by accreditation or standard recognition. Some of these organizations include Green Globe, Earthcheck, Travel Lite, and Preferred by Nature.
However, many travel businesses opt for other non-travel sustainability certifications, for example, B Corp and The Butterfly Mark by Positive Luxury.
General | B Corp
The coveted B Corp status is awarded to organizations that are a force of environmental and social justice.
These are companies committed to balancing “profit and purpose” to make the economy more equitable and less exploitative.
Travel | Preferred By Nature’s Sustainable Travel Program
Accommodation providers, tour operators, and other types of travel activities, of all sizes, annual revenues and geographical areas are welcome to apply.
The program also hosts The Long Run, which is the world’s largest community of Private Protected Areas.
Luxury | The Butterfly Mark by Positive Luxury
It’s one of the more exclusive independent sustainability certificates. It is only awarded to luxury brands, suppliers, and retailers that achieve ESG+ standards.
The Tourist Center of Concha e Toro Vineyard in Chile was certified by Preferred by Nature’s Sustainable Travel Program in 2022.
Factor 1: Credibility
B Corp
Patagonia is perhaps the most well-known poster child of the B Corp movement, whose CEO has served on the advisory board of B Corp. Other household brands such as The Body Shop and Ben & Jerry's actively communicate their B Corp certified status with their target audiences.
In the Asia Pacific region, notable travel and hotel brands include Intrepid Travel, Mana Earthly Paradise (Bali), and Hotel Ease (Hong Kong).
Preferred by Nature
With over 25 years of experience with sustainability certification, Preferred by Nature is an accredited certification body for some of the world’s most well-known eco-labels such as Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture and Forest Stewardship Council FSC.
The NGO developed its new Standard for Sustainable Travel Activities based on a tourism standard that has been recognized by GSTC.
It publishes information about certified travel companies in its social networks and in travel channels including TripAdvisor Profile.
Positive Luxury
The Positive Luxury’s advisory board consists of leaders of notable organizations including Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Forum for The Future, MIT Sloan School of Management, etc. Over 115 luxury brands have earned their Butterfly Mark, including IWC, Dior Couture, MCM, and Tom Ford Beauty.
The certification provider recently launched The Connected Butterfly Mark, an industry-leading tech tool that brings a brand’s sustainability performance directly to consumers through a website widget, NFC tag, QR code, or hyperlink.
The Connected Butterfly Mark enables organizations to demonstrate their sustainability performance with transparency and confidence, offer honest differentiation, and build trust with their consumers.
Intrepid Travel, the largest B Corp certified travel tour provider. Photo by: Intrepid Travel
Factor 2: Eligibility
B Corp
Businesses of all sectors and sizes can apply. However, only organizations that have been operating for over 12 months are eligible to become certified. Those under 12 months may receive Pending B Corp status once they submit their application and pay the fee.
Preferred by Nature’s Sustainable Travel Program
Accommodation providers, tour operators, and other types of travel activities, of all sizes, annual revenues and geographical areas are welcome to apply.
Positive Luxury
Luxury travel & leisure companies of all sizes from start-ups to heritage international luxury groups are welcome to apply.
Luxury organizations with a turnover under £1 million or US$1.2 million must apply for Start-Up Accelerator Programme and those larger organizations can speak directly to the Positive Luxury team to begin their certification journey.
Singapore-headquartered Cariuma Sneakers, a Positive Luxury member. Photo by: Cariuma Sneakers
Factor 3: Application Process
B Corp
First, meet national and regional legal requirements
→ self-assessment & reporting
→ review & evaluation
→ verification
→ certification
A company must meet an assessment score of 80 or above to get reviewed. It could take up to 18 months to become B Corp certified after a company submits its assessments.
The path to certification could vary depending on a company’s size and revenue. In some cases, companies might need to take on a different approach than the general path above based on sector, scoring, and ownership structure.
Preferred by Nature’s Sustainable Travel Program
First, submit an application
→ proposed certification fee acceptance
→ auditing (done onsite by the Preferred by Nature team)
→ evaluation & reporting
→ certification
It could take up to 4-6 months for an organization to be awarded a Preferred by Nature sustainability certification.
The Butterfly Mark by Positive Luxury
First, send in an application
→ assessment & review (with the support of a dedicated Sustainability Client Services team member)
→ certification (+ post-certification support on trust-building with target customers and business future-proofing)
It could take between 6- 12 months to be awarded the Butterfly Mark certification.
B Corp Certified Hotel Ease Hong Kong. Photo by: Hotel Ease
Factor 4: Scoring
B Lab scores the impact of a company’s governance structure and its actions related to workers, customers, the community, and the environment.
All B Corp certified companies’ Impact Scores are publicly available.
B Impact Score featured below is of Mana Earthly Paradise’s, Southeast Asia’s first B Corp certified hotel.
Preferred By Nature’s standard for Sustainable Travel Activities examines the overall performance of a tourism business against a set of criteria organized under following 4 principles:
responsible management and business practices
respect for people’s well-being, human rights and cultural heritage
protection of nature and the environment
reduction and mitigation of climate impacts
Positive Luxury applies its proprietary ESG+ Framework to rate a company’s performance in 4 areas: environment, social, governance and innovation. An organization needs to achieve a minimum score of 50% across each ESG pillar to secure the Butterfly Mark certification.
The Connected Butterfly Mark. Photo by: Positive Luxury
Factor 5: Financial Investment
B Corp
One-time submission fee of US$350
Certification fee between US$1,000 - US$45,000 per year
Certification validity: 3 years
Certification fees vary depending on its size and annual revenue. Check the full list of fees here for SE Asia, Hong Kong and Macau.
Preferred by Nature’s Sustainable Travel Program
Assessment average costs: from US$2,800 to US$6,000
Annual audit: US$2,500 to US$4,500
Certification validity: 3 years
The assessment cost includes the auditing fee and the audit team’s travel etc.
The certified business must undergo an audit in years 2 and 3 to ensure that its sustainable performance is maintained. Companies need to go through the assessment process again in order to re-certify.
Positive Luxury
Pricing varies depending on a company’s size:
Micro: £3,150 or approx. US$3,800
Small: £5,250 or approx. US$6,300
Medium: £21,000 or approx. US$25,000
Large: £52,500 or approx. US$62,700
Certification validity: 2 years
Factor 6: Customer Service
B Corp
B Lab stands out with the fact that it has more offices in Asia than anywhere else in the world. Having team members and partners in Asia, B Lab hosts events and webinars, and provides support in local languages.
With the popularity of the B Corp certification continuing to rise in the region, it is expected that B Lab is likely to firm up its support services to help more companies realize their sustainability goals.
Preferred by Nature’s Sustainable Travel Program
The team is known for providing custom assessment proposals to tailor to a company’s business arrangement.
Their in-person auditing service is done on property, which is seen as a rarity in the industry.
Many companies use this opportunity to get a lion’s share of assessment questions answered to accelerate the process.
Positive Luxury
An account team will be assigned to a company for support during the assessment process.
Additionally, Positive Luxury also provides marketing support during the assessment and after certification including toolkits, best practices, reports, webinars, templates, and editorial opportunities on its website and social media. The organization also offers the industry-leading tech tool – The Connected Butterfly Mark - to build trust with stakeholders.
TL;DR
State of play
Asian consumers are confused about sustainability and sustainable travel although sustainability certifications are becoming popular with Asian companies
Some companies find it difficult to choose a suitable sustainability certification from hundreds of program
Small-to-medium companies find self-reporting & lengthy process discouraging
Benefits of gaining a sustainability certification
Financial: Reduced legal and regulatory interventions, higher employee retention, improved guest satisfaction
Operational: integrated social and environmental evaluation into your business, streamlined working process, innovations stemmed from implementing new requirements
Marketing & PR: Businesses can also market their certification as a brand differentiator to attract more customers, and as a validation that you are not greenwashing
Six key consideration factors to choose the right sustainability certification
Credibility
Eligibility
Process
Scoring
Cost and validity
Customer service
“Achieving B Corporation status [or gaining any sustainability certification] may feel like a long process or not right for you right now, but it is still very helpful to go through the assessment to understand what a socially and environmentally responsible organization looks like in practical terms.”
— Danielle Thompson, Founder of Unthread Advisory, a consulting firm that simplifies the B Corp process for small and early-stage businesses owned or led by women
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