The month of April was dedicated to Achieving Carbon Neutrality.
What does carbon neutrality mean?
Achieving carbon neutrality means striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero and then ‘offsetting’ an equivalent amount of any remaining emissions. The core meaning of the term is the need to achieve ecological balance between activities that emit polluting emissions and processes that reduce the impact of that pollution to zero or as close as possible to zero.
From reviewing the type and amount of electricity used at the hostels, the way the water is heated and its usage, the provenience of the food offered and the transportation means chosen, you are already taking steps to minimise the carbon emissions of your hostel.
Since April 2012, Hostelling International offers its guests the option of CO2 compensation when booking overnight stays. This option is currently offered in 35 countries. All contributions flow to three international
myclimate UN Gold Standard Projects in Peru, China and Malawi where we provide new jobs, contribute to local growth and increased levels of health. HI also adds a donation of 0.10 GBP per night for the
HI Sustainability Fund (HISF), which finances network projects to reduce our CO2 emissions and all associations are encouraged each year to apply for this fund, wrote on the website
hihostels.com.
As you know, Hostelling International chooses two star projects every month. This month they chose:
CarboNZero Certification project comes from all YHA New Zealand managed hostels. They commited to a 5% reduction in greenhouse gas for the relevant parts of their organisation. Electricity is their biggest source of emissions so they plan to continue investing in initiatives like solar and geothermal power. Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing the world today and they think it’s their responsibility to do what they can to help.
6 hostels in Switzerland are learning how to build a low energy hostel – hostels Gstaad Saanenland, Zermatt, Interlaken, Saas Fee, Scuol, Valbella and Bern are currently undergoing complete renovations. Minergie is a quality label for new and renovated buildings. Those awarded the certification demonstrate significantly lower use of energy than conventional constructions. The approach was adopted by the Swiss Youth Hostels for new buildings and major conversions. They are building ecological hostels, not using lead, copper or titan-zinc and use wood as far as possible. All building materials are recyclable or seperable. You can read more about sustainability here.
