Assessment & Recognition

Turn environmental performance into evidence you can stand behind.

ETC Africa turns operational data into a credible climate-performance assessment, helping tourism businesses understand their footprint, the quality of the evidence behind it, how they compare and whether performance is changing.

Through the Eco Travel Foundation Climate Performance Programme, that assessment can also provide a recognised framework for communicating environmental performance with evidence rather than promises.

Measure it. Understand it. Compare it. Improve it. Stand behind it.

How it works Talk to Us
01Carbon IntensityWhat is your measured footprint per occupied bed-night?
02Data QualityCan we trust the picture?
03BenchmarkHow do you compare?
04TrajectoryAre you improving?

Four headline findings · no overall score

How it works

One programme. Two pathways.

Every participating property starts with the same technical foundation: a climate-performance assessment based on operational evidence, carbon accounting and relevant tourism benchmarks.

From there, properties can remain on the standard assessment pathway or elect to pursue the programme's optional certification pathway when available.

Pathway 1 · Assessment

Standard pathway

The standard pathway.

ETC Africa undertakes the technical assessment, turning operational records into a defensible picture of climate performance. The assessment looks at four headline findings:

01 · Carbon Intensity

What is your measured footprint per occupied bed-night?

02 · Data Quality

Can we trust the picture?

03 · Benchmark

How do you compare?

04 · Trajectory

Are you improving?

Assessment is not about passing or failing because a footprint looks good or bad. It is about credible measurement, honest disclosure, useful comparison and understanding what should improve next.

Pathway 2 · Optional certification

In development

An additional independent review pathway being developed by the Eco Travel Foundation.

Certification will build on the completed technical assessment by adding independent conformity review and a separate certification decision under the programme's governance arrangements.

Payment provides access to the certification review process. It does not guarantee certification or a favourable outcome.

Not yet operational

Claims and evidence

From saying it to showing it.

Sustainability claims are easy to make. Credible evidence is harder.

A climate-performance assessment connects the claim to the operational records behind it: fuel, electricity, waste, travel, logistics, occupancy and other relevant sources.

Instead of simply saying that your business is improving, you can show what was measured, how reliable the evidence is, how performance compares and what has changed over time.

Claim

“We are committed to sustainability.”

Sincere, possibly true, but what does it actually tell us?

  • How much energy do you use?
  • How reliable are the records behind the number?
  • How do you compare with similar operations?
  • Is performance actually changing?

Evidence

Carbon intensity14.6 kgCO₂e / bed-night
Data quality94% evidence-supported
Benchmark22% below relevant peers
Trajectory↓ 11% year-on-year

Illustrative values only

The findings

Four things become visible.

Each finding stands on its own. They are not combined into an overall score, rating or grade.

01

Carbon Intensity

What is your measured footprint per occupied bed-night?

Carbon intensity gives the footprint a consistent operational denominator, allowing performance to be understood in the context of the guests accommodated.

Carbon intensity

Your measured footprint per occupied bed-night, expressed as kg CO₂e per occupied bed-night.

kg CO₂e / occupied bed-night

02

Data Quality

Can we trust the picture?

Not every carbon number is equally reliable. Data Quality reflects the completeness, traceability and strength of the evidence behind the assessment.

Data quality

94%
Evidence-supported94%
Estimated6%

Illustrative example

03

Benchmark

How do you compare?

A number on its own has limited meaning. Relevant tourism benchmarks provide context by comparing performance with operations facing similar conditions.

Carbon intensity

kgCO₂e / occupied bed-night

22% below benchmark
Your property14.6
Relevant peer benchmark18.7

Illustrative example

04

Trajectory

Are you improving?

Trajectory tracks comparable carbon intensity over time, helping distinguish genuine progress from a once-off snapshot.

Carbon intensity

kgCO₂e / occupied bed-night

202418.9
202516.7
202614.6
↓ 23% over three years

Illustrative example

Context matters

A number without context tells you very little.

A remote safari lodge, urban hotel, island resort and off-grid camp operate under very different conditions. A higher footprint does not automatically mean poorer management, and a lower footprint does not automatically mean better environmental performance.

The useful questions

  • How does that compare with similar tourism businesses?
  • Where are the largest sources?
  • Which operational metrics explain the difference?
  • What could realistically change?

Relevant comparison considers operating context

Grid-connected or off-grid supply, renewable-energy systems, property type, occupancy, service model, location, climate, motorised guest activities, game-drive intensity, generators, and cooking and hot-water systems all shape a fair comparison.

How ETC Africa benchmarks African tourism

A benchmark gap isn't a verdict. It's a question worth investigating.

Data quality & evidence

Good data does not have to be perfect data.

Most tourism businesses do not begin with immaculate environmental records. That is normal.

Useful evidence may already exist across invoices, fuel records, electricity accounts, supplier statements, spreadsheets, meter readings, waste records and operational logs. ETC Africa works with the information a property actually has, identifies the important gaps and builds a practical route toward stronger evidence over time.

The objective is transparency and improvement, not administrative perfection.

A first assessment establishes the baseline. You cannot demonstrate improvement until you know where you started.

Measured

Metered, invoiced or otherwise directly evidenced.

Calculated

Derived from reliable operational records.

Estimated

Reasoned from partial data, clearly flagged.

Assumed

Used only where unavoidable, and documented.

Progress, not perfection

Progress matters more than perfection.

The programme does not require every property to have a small footprint, outperform its peers or reduce emissions every single year.

What matters is credible measurement, honest disclosure and evidence that the business is learning, improving its information or improving environmental performance over time.

Operational

Progress might mean reducing fuel use.

Evidence

It might mean replacing an estimate with measured data.

Understanding

It might mean finally understanding why one operation performs differently from another.

Better evidence can sometimes increase a reported footprint. That does not mean environmental performance has suddenly become worse. It can simply mean the picture has become more accurate.

What recognition means

Recognition you can explain.

Good environmental claims should be specific enough to defend.

The Eco Travel Foundation Climate Performance Programme recognises credible measurement, transparent disclosure, benchmarking and ongoing performance management within a defined assessment boundary. It does not turn one assessment into a sweeping claim about the entire business.

It can support claims about

Measured climate performance

Carbon intensity

Evidence quality

Relevant benchmarking

Performance trajectory

Ongoing environmental performance management

It does not automatically mean

The property is “sustainable”

The property is “green”

The property is carbon neutral

The property is net zero

The property has a low carbon footprint

The entire GHG inventory has received formal assurance

Conservation and community contributions are valuable, but they are not carbon offsets and do not cancel operational emissions.

Who does what

Technical expertise. Independent programme framework.

ETC Africa

Technical environmental intelligence & assessment

Measurement

Carbon accounting

Evidence assessment

Benchmarking

Performance interpretation

Technical reporting

Eco Travel Foundation

Climate Performance Programme

Programme stewardship

Participation framework

Public recognition

Programme governance

Status and recognition assets

Within the programme · Optional certification pathway (in development)

Independent conformity review · Separate certification decision · Distinct certification recognition

Eco Travel Foundation

The standard assessment is a technical climate-performance assessment. It is not certification, independent verification or formal assurance.

Field notebook, tablet chart and utility meter on a table at an off-grid safari camp

Start with the evidence

Find out where you stand.

Turn the operational data you already have into a credible climate-performance baseline, understand how you compare and identify what to improve next.

Talk to us

All values on this page are illustrative and do not represent actual participant data.

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