THE Green Grotto Caves in Discovery Bay, St Ann has achieved the prestigious Green Globe Certified Gold status under the Green Globe Earthcheck Certification programme managed by EC3 Global. The global programme recognises Green Grotto Caves’ commitment to operating at the world’s highest environmental standard. This is another milestone for the attraction, which was the first worldwide to be Green Globe certified.

Gold certification is achieved through continuous commitment to environmental performance and improvement and is awarded to organisations after five years of continuous certification.

Since its acquisition by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) in 1999, the physical upgrading of the attraction has been guided by a commitment to sound environmental policies, programmes and practices which resulted in Green Globe certification in 2003 – a standard which has been consistently maintained.

Prior to achieving the gold certification, Green Grotto Caves successfully benchmarked against key environmental indicators using the EarthcheckTM tool including energy and water consumption, total waste production and community commitment.

“Green Grotto Caves is a prime example of an organisation committed to environmentally sustainable tourism, Stewart Moore, CEO of EC3 Global in commenting on the certification, said. “They have demonstrated through a variety of initiatives, that their business and its employees can make a difference by reducing their environmental impact. The commitment they have shown by participating in the Green Globe programme underpinned by EarthcheckTM science and the achievements they have made within the programme set an example for other businesses to follow.”

The Green Globe programme as managed by EC3 Global is a worldwide benchmarking, certification and performance improvement system assisting the travel and tourism industry to attain sustainability, by providing a certification system that responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet, including climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management. The Green Globe brand is used under licence from Green Globe Limited and Green Globe International, Inc.

The attraction is managed by the St Ann Development Company (SADCo) on behalf of the UDC.