Hotel Hellnar, West Iceland, is the first hotel in Europe to be awarded EarthCheck Platinum Certification for its 10 year commitment to implementing world-class sustainability initiatives.

Stewart Moore, Chief Executive Officer of EC3 Global and EarthCheck, presented the Platinum Plaque award to Marius Sverrisson, Manager of Hotel Hellnar, on 7 March 2013 at the ITB travel trade show in Berlin.

Hotel Hellnar is a 34 room accommodation complex in the micro village Hellnar, in Snaefellsnes Peninsula community, which is also certified by EarthCheck.

EarthCheck Certified, a program delivered by EC3 Global, is considered to be the world’s most credible environmental benchmarking and certification program for the travel and tourism sector.

Stewart Moore congratulated Hotel Hellnar on its commitment to environmental and socially responsible business practices and being the first hotel in Europe to achieve EarthCheck Platinum Certification.

"I would like to congratulate Hotel Hellnar on such an outstanding achievement. The hotel has joined an elite number of organisations in the world in achieving the highest level of EarthCheck Certification. By working with EarthCheck, Hotel Hellnar has chosen a scientific approach to sustainable tourism. This involves using EarthCheck science-based benchmarking software and tools to measure the effectiveness of their environmental practices," said Mr Moore.

Hotel Hellnar had to meet strict environmental sustainability criteria under the EarthCheck Standard, and validate their performance through a process of annual benchmarking and regular audits that are conducted by an independent third party. The hotel has consistently met criteria including energy and water consumption, total waste production and community commitment.

Under the guidance of the EarthCheck Certified program, Hotel Hellnar’s key sustainability initiatives include reducing pollution and waste by reusing, recycling, saving energy and water and using eco-labelled products and encouraging staff to present their commitment to environmental and social sustainability to guests, suppliers, contractors, agents and wholesalers. The hotel was also awarded the Icelandic Tourist Board's Environment Award in 2000 and again - under the Hey Iceland umbrella - in 2004.
 
Read more about and book Hotel Hellnar.
 
EarthCheck website.