SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO—The Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) has published a list of properties in the region that have obtained the demanding Green Globe 21 certification. The Green Globe 21 page can be found at www.cha-cast.com. The Green Globe 21 company standard is a benchmarking and certification standard designed for businesses in 25 different sectors of the travel and tourism industry—accommodations, administrative offices, airlines, airports, attractions, cruise vessels, golf courses, restaurants, vehicle rentals, tour operators and more. The standard requires an operation to first establish a baseline level of performance or benchmark for environmental...

MADRID, SPAIN— Tour Operators Initiative (TOI), the international network that encourages operators to commit themselves to supporting the sustainable development of tourism, has transferred its Secretariat to the headquarters of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Madrid, Spain. “This move opens up new and exciting possibilities for our work,” says TOI chairman Tom Selanniemi. “The UNWTO network will help open doors, especially to decision makers in tourism destinations, which will greatly support the integration of the concept of sustainability into tourism development.” Formerly based at the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris, TOI was founded...

NATIONAL REPORT—One of the most extensive and comprehensive studies to date, an analysis by the California Sustainable Building Task Force released in October 2003, found that “a minimal upfront investment of about 2 percent of design and construction costs to integrate green or sustainable building practices into a facility typically yields life cycle savings of more than 10 times the initial investment.” The study indicated, for example, that an initial investment of approximately $100,000 to incorporate green and sustainable building upgrades into a $5 million facility would result in a savings of at least $1 million over the...

HOUSTON—Sustainability practices just got easier for the facility management profession as the International Facility Management Assn. (IFMA) has announced a collaborative agreement with the Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments to develop and deliver sustainability educational programs, as well as provide research and planning tools. Since 2003, the Alliance, which includes the international companies Johnson Controls, Milliken & Company, Forbo Flooring, Philips Lighting, JohnsonDiversey and Owens Corning, has been working to educate the marketplace and top management on the benefits of reducing the overall impact facilities have on the natural environment and on building occupants. This new partnership...