Claim
“We are committed to sustainability.”
Sincere, possibly true — but not measurable, comparable or reviewable.
Verified Impact
Sustainability claims are easy. Evidence is harder.
Verified Impact provides a practical pathway from environmental measurement to credible, evidence-backed performance. It helps tourism businesses understand what they can demonstrate today, how their performance compares and whether they are improving over time.
01Data confidenceCan we trust the numbers?
02BenchmarkHow does performance compare?
03TrajectoryIs it improving over time?
One consistent assessment structure
The problem
Sustainable. Green. Eco-friendly. Responsible.
What do those words actually tell us?
Tourism is full of positive environmental claims, and those claims can vary enormously in what they actually mean. Verified Impact shifts the conversation from what you say to what you can demonstrate.
Evidence
Carbon intensity14.6 kgCO₂e / GBN
Peer performance22% below benchmark
Data confidenceHIGH
Year-on-year trajectory↓ 11%
Illustrative values only
The Verified Impact framework
A simple framework for credible performance.
Three connected stages, applied consistently: data confidence, benchmark, trajectory.
01
Data confidence
Can we trust the numbers?
Verified Impact first considers the quality of the underlying environmental information.
Evidence qualityCompletenessTransparent assumptionsConsistent boundariesRecognised methodologies
Before judging performance, understand how much confidence we can place in the data.
Data confidence
94%
Verified evidence94%
Estimated data6%
High confidenceIllustrative example
02
Benchmark
How do you compare?
Once the underlying information is credible enough to interpret, performance can be considered in context.
Relevant peer groupsOperational contextCarbon intensityEnvironmental performanceLike-for-like comparison
A footprint tells you your impact. A benchmark tells you your position.
Carbon intensity
kgCO₂e / guest bed night
Your property14.6
Relevant peer benchmark18.7
Illustrative example
03
Trajectory
Are you improving?
Performance at one moment in time is useful. Direction of travel is more useful.
Year-on-year changeReduction progressOperational improvementData-quality improvementLong-term direction
Good performance matters. Credible improvement matters too.
Carbon intensity
kgCO₂e / GBN
202418.9
202516.7
202614.6
Illustrative example
First year? That's okay.
Everyone needs a starting point.
A business completing its first credible assessment may not yet have a trajectory. That does not prevent meaningful participation. A first assessment establishes data confidence, a benchmark position and the baseline against which future progress is measured.
Data confidence
How reliable is the baseline?
Benchmark position
How does current performance compare?
Baseline
The starting point against which future progress can be measured.
You cannot demonstrate improvement until you know where you started.
First-year scorecard
Data confidenceHIGH
BenchmarkABOVE PEER MEDIAN
TrajectoryBASELINE YEAR
Illustrative example
Show the scorecard
Performance you can actually explain.
A Verified Impact summary should be understandable by lodge owners, general managers, sustainability teams, travel agents, tour operators, buyers and guests alike.
EXAMPLE SAFARI LODGE
Illustrative exampleData confidence
HIGH94% evidence-supported data
Benchmark
STRONG PERFORMANCE22% below relevant peer carbon benchmark
Trajectory
IMPROVING11% reduction year-on-year
Confidence Performance Progress
Clarity
What Verified Impact is — and isn't.
Verified Impact is
Evidence-led
Performance-based
Comparable
Transparent
Progress-oriented
Grounded in carbon and environmental data
Designed to improve over time
Verified Impact is not
A sustainability beauty contest
A checklist of good intentions
A reward for having a sustainability policy
A substitute for credible measurement
A carbon-offset badge
A claim that any business has “no impact”
Carbon as the foundation
Carbon keeps the framework grounded.
Sustainability extends far beyond carbon. But carbon provides something unusually valuable: a measurable, comparable and independently reviewable environmental indicator. Verified Impact uses credible carbon and environmental performance as an evidence-based foundation while recognising the wider role of tourism in conservation and communities.
Carbon isn't the whole story. It helps keep the story honest.
01Measure
02Compare
03Track
04Demonstrate
More than a score
The goal isn't the badge. It's better performance.
Verified Impact should help participating businesses identify where they are strong, where data needs improvement and where meaningful environmental opportunities exist.
Year 1
- Baseline established
- Data confidence: MEDIUM
- Benchmark: TYPICAL
Year 2
- Evidence improved
- Data confidence: HIGH
- Benchmark: ABOVE AVERAGE
Year 3
- Operational reductions demonstrated
- Trajectory: IMPROVING
Recognition should reward credible progress, not just polished sustainability stories.
Value to tourism businesses
Why participate?
Know where you stand
Understand current performance and evidence quality.
Know how you compare
See performance in relevant tourism context.
Know what to improve
Identify data gaps and environmental opportunities.
Track progress
Build a credible trajectory over time.
Communicate with confidence
Support sustainability claims with evidence.
Build buyer confidence
Give agents, operators and partners clearer environmental information.
Value to buyers
Don't just ask whether a property is sustainable.
Ask what they can demonstrate.
Verified Impact is intended to make credible environmental performance easier to understand for the people choosing, recommending and selling tourism products.
Instead of
“Eco-friendly safari lodge”
✓High data confidence
✓22% below relevant carbon benchmark
✓11% year-on-year improvement
✓Transparent performance data
Illustrative values only
Independence & governance
Built for credibility and longevity.
Verified Impact is intended to sit within a broader independent, public-benefit ecosystem rather than function simply as an ETC Africa marketing badge. Structures and roles are being developed and remain provisional.
ETC Africa
Technical expertise
- Carbon measurement
- Environmental analysis
- Benchmarking
- Technical assessment
Verified Impact
Performance framework
- Data confidence
- Benchmark
- Trajectory
- Transparent recognition
Ecotourism Foundation
Independent / public-benefit home
- Programme longevity
- Broader tourism impact
- Funded participation opportunities
- Tourism-for-good initiatives
Tourism for Good
Verified Impact is a performance framework and recognition approach, not an accredited certification scheme.
Access & funded participation
Better environmental intelligence shouldn't only belong to big businesses.
Through partnerships and funded programmes, the broader Verified Impact ecosystem can help extend credible carbon measurement, benchmarking and capacity-building to smaller tourism businesses and conservation-focused operators.
A practical journey
From evidence to credible communication.
01 / 05
Establish the evidence
Understand existing environmental data and build the baseline.
02 / 05
Assess confidence
Identify what is known, estimated or missing.
03 / 05
Benchmark performance
Compare relevant metrics with appropriate peers.
04 / 05
Establish trajectory
Track environmental and data-quality performance over time.
05 / 05
Communicate transparently
Turn credible performance into understandable information.
In practice
Verified Impact in practice.
From individual tourism businesses to funded multi-property programmes, Verified Impact is designed to turn environmental measurement into practical learning, improvement and credible communication.
Programme case study
Coming soon
Verified Impact
Turn your sustainability story into something you can show.
Whether you're establishing your first credible baseline or already tracking environmental performance year-on-year, Verified Impact provides a pathway from measurement to meaningful, evidence-backed progress.
All values on this page are illustrative and do not represent actual participant data.