Green Globe Lite
Encyclopedia
EarthCheck Assessed is an on-line performance improvement tool based on the EarthCheck Certification
Certification
Certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit...

 Program. The program acts as a stepping stone for businesses that may wish to progress to EarthCheck Certification programme at a later date. EarthCheck Assessed is supported by the science and technology of the Sustainable Tourism CRC
Sustainable Tourism CRC
Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre , headquartered in Gold Coast, Queensland, was an Australian Cooperative Research Centre established by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program to establish a competitive and dynamic sustainable tourism industry in Australia...

 (STCRC)http://www.crctourism.com.au, the largest source of sustainability research in the world.

Brief history

In August, 2008 the program was introduced to market from increased demand for businesses that want to start addressing climate change and sustainability in a cost effective way. EarthCheck Assessed has all of the calculation across energy, water and waste however does not included third party certification. It is however a valid way for restaurants and other organisations to measure, manage and reduce their environmental impact, with the cost savings involved in smart recycling, energy efficiency, management practices and policies. EarthCheck Assessed is focused on integrating these cost savings, with an online delivered cost effective tool.

The Australian Hotels Association
Australian Hotels Association
The Australian Hotels Association is an employer advocacy and lobby group representing hoteliers around Australia.The AHA was established in 1839, and is an organisation of employers registered under Commonwealth Industrial Relations law and respective State Laws...

 was one of the first associations to act in partnership with EarthCheck Assessed, with a discounted rate for AHA Members. Like the EarthCheck program from which it originates, EarthCheck Assessed was developed in conjunction with the Sustainable Tourism CRC
Sustainable Tourism CRC
Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre , headquartered in Gold Coast, Queensland, was an Australian Cooperative Research Centre established by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program to establish a competitive and dynamic sustainable tourism industry in Australia...

.

The "Lite" program was enhanced in 2009 to meet the needs of the new carbon economy and re-branded as EarthCheck Assessed

Programme foundations

Green Globe Lite is based upon the Green Globe programme, however the key difference between Green Globe and Green Globe Lite is that Green Globe Lite is delivered solely online. Extra paperwork, onsite audits and other third party measures are not included, and as such this is a "lite" version of the EarthCheck Company Standard. The same set of tools are open to any participant of EarthCheck Assessed, they can measure, manage and use strategies, policies and practices to measure, manage and reduce their environmental impact, whilst reaping the benefit of operational cost savings.

Similarly to EarthCheck Certification, EarthCheck Assessed is fundamentally based upon Agenda 21
Agenda 21
Agenda 21 is an action plan of the United Nations related to sustainable development and was an outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992...

 Principles which was originally endorsed by 182 heads of state at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 and provided a set of principles for local, state, national and international action on sustainable development. This resulted in Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry: Towards Environmentally Sustainable Development, which listed an action plan for a number of overall objectives for the industry.

EarthCheck Assessed Key Environmental Performances Areas can effectively be categorised in 10 ways:
  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • Energy efficiency, conservation and management
  • Management of freshwater resources
  • Ecosystem conservation and management
  • Management of social and cultural issues
  • Land use planning and management
  • Air Quality protection and noise control
  • Waste water management
  • Solid waste management
  • Storage of environmentally harmful substances


EarthCheck Assessed's focus is on achieving this performance, enacting a reduction of operational costs and more clear communication of performance.

Aspects of the upgraded EarthCheck Assessed Program

EarthCheck Assessed is designed for businesses that want to start addressing Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

 and Climate Change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

. The programme provides businesses with an online Health Check Framework
Conceptual framework
A conceptual framework is used in research to outline possible courses of action or to present a preferred approach to an idea or thought. For example, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin used the "hedgehogs" versus "foxes" approach; a "hedgehog" might approach the world in terms of a single organizing...

 that assesses Key Environmental Performances Areas such as energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, water consumption and waste production. The program is fully compliant with current Australian Greenhouse Office
Australian Greenhouse Office
The Australian Greenhouse Office within the Government of Australia was the world's first government agency dedicated to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In 1998, following pressure from the Australian Democrats, it was established as a stand alone agency within the environment portfolio to...

 Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions protocols and reporting standards including NGERS. It is also compliant with ISO14064, the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and adheres to the UNEP Guidelines for calculating GHG Emissions for business & non commercial organisations.

EC3 Global's research team works closely with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) working group under Professor Robert Pagan at the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...

on maintaining continued local and international compliance.

Green Globe Lite in the press


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK