When you walk into a hotel lobby or check in at the reception of a meeting venue, you see them everywhere: hallmark stickers. From the Michelin Guide to Trotter, Green Key and the EU Ecolabel. Whereas the stars and grades of Trotter and the Michelin Guide say something about the quality of the venue, the Green Key label and EU Ecolabel label say something about the sustainability of the venue. But what exactly does such a sustainability label mean?
Sustainability labels exist to help consumers make a sustainable choice when buying a product or service. When a location has a hallmark, they are committed to a sustainable future and a better environment. For example, in terms of CO2 reduction, animal welfare or social sustainability.
That sounds like it is made easy for consumers, but there are so many different labels in different categories that it is sometimes impossible to see the forest for the trees. Milieucentraal conducted a survey of labels in 2019 and found that there are more than 250(!) sustainability labels in the Netherlands. Hallmarks for clothing, wood and concrete, cleaning products and packaging. And of course tourism and recreation, which includes hotels and meeting venues.
We list the most important seals of approval for meetings and hotel stays:
One of the best-known sustainability labels is Green Key. Green Key is an international quality mark for businesses in the tourism and recreation sector. When a location has a Green Key certificate, a location does more in terms of environmental and social sustainability than normal laws and regulations require. For example, they do not wash more than necessary. They conserve energy and use environmentally friendly cleaning agents. But the location also employs employees with a distance to the labour market.
Depending on how much a venue does for the environment and a more (socially) sustainable future, it receives a bronze, silver or gold Green Key. Bookers can easily filter Green Key venues in Worldmeetings' booking tool.
The EU Ecolabel promotes a circular economy by reducing waste and CO2. The initiative for this label comes from the European Union and is now recognised worldwide.
As with Green Key, the label sets requirements for energy use, water use, waste separation and use of cleaning agents. In addition, the label pays attention, for example, to the provision of bicycles or availability of public transport.
Almost every Dutch person is familiar with the Energy Label for homes. Every building in the Netherlands now has a label. The energy label ranks from G for very energy wasteful to A++++ for very economical buildings.
If your meeting venue has an EKO label, you can be sure that organic products are used in the kitchen. Only a Gold-100% EKO label guarantees exclusively organic products. In addition, EKO issues labels for at least 80% organic (Gold), 50-80% (Silver) and 15-50% (Bronze).
The "European Label for Organic" also, as the name suggests, stands for organic products. However, it refers to manufacture of products rather than their use. You can therefore find the label on food packaging.
These labels support conservation and fair social conditions for food producers in third-world countries in particular. Rainforest Alliance focuses on rainforest conservation. Fairtrade focuses on empowering poor farmers and workers. Unlike Fairtrade, UTZ does work with large farms, setting requirements for good farming practices, labour relations and environmental attention. Coffee, tea and chocolate lovers will no doubt recognise the logos of the labels.
As mentioned, Fairtrade and UTZ, for example, pay attention to a fair social climate of producers. A Dutch hallmark for social return is PSO.
PSO stands for "corporate social responsibility performance ladder". The ladder was developed by TNO in 2010 in cooperation with PSO and companies from various sectors. PSO is "a scientifically based measuring and registration instrument and also a quality mark". The PSO 30+ certificate guarantees that at least 30% of employees are people with a distance to the labour market. PSO also ensures that companies treat employees with care.
To reassure consumers that a seal really says something about the quality or sustainability of the product, there is the Dutch Accreditation Council (RvA). This is a government agency whose primary task is to accredit and keep accredited conformity assessment organisations: laboratories, inspection bodies, certification bodies and verification bodies. Or in other words, they audit inspection organisations.
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