The Value of a Green Globe Certification

Becoming a Green Globe-certified campus has had a positive impact on the environment and on our students, who are gaining firsthand experience of green business practices and the importance of carrying these learnings into their future careers, explains César Ritz Colleges Switzerland Dean Tanja Florenthal.

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With our on-campus hives for 250 000 bees, nests for endangered bird species, and the use of eco-friendly cleaning products, César Ritz Colleges Switzerland has developed itself into a green campus. While all of these practices are good for the environment, they also show our students that conducting business can be compatible with sustainability.

Gaining our Green Globe Certification made our ongoing commitment to sustainability official. This commitment goes beyond having a green campus, and has two specific missions: the first is to educate our students about green business practices; and the second is that César Ritz Colleges Switzerland wants to be seen to walk its talk, through incorporating green practices across our campus.

With this in mind, our students have been working on a variety of circular economy projects, in line with the teachings from the Ellen McArthur Foundation, creating their own natural soap, and working on academic posters that look at greenwashing, mass tourism, and water consumption.

In addition, as a school – and with the backing of all faculty – we have decided that every semester one student project should be dedicated to sustainability. The scope of these projects is wide-ranging and could include the math class calculating the benefits of removing small plastic shampoo bottles from hotel rooms, or business sustainability students working on innovative projects to help smaller, green hotels to market themselves more effectively.

Three key opportunities

While the certification makes César Ritz Colleges Switzerland’s commitment to sustainable practices and education official, it also provides our school with numerous opportunities, including:

Unique choice for students

César Ritz Colleges Switzerland is the only hospitality school in the world to be Green Globe Certified. This makes our campus a unique and enticing choice for students who are wanting to experience the benefits and learnings that can be gained by enrolling on a green campus.

Raise public awareness

The certification amplifies awareness of our green campus and the various sustainable activities we are actively engaged in. For example, our biodiversity workshop on engendered bird species enabled us to make the public aware of the issue.

Opportunity to gain knowledge

Our commitment to green practices has enabled us to learn so much about all sorts of things, including bees! For example, did you know that one bee visits 7 000 flowers a day, and it takes four million flower visits to produce one kilogram of honey?

Find out more about César Ritz Colleges Switzerland’s commitment to sustainability.