Our rule
We only recognise labels awarded by a third-party body, independent of the establishment being checked, whose criteria are public and whose award is subject to a renewed audit.
Everything else — in-house charters, home-made seals, “certified by our own good selves” — is worth zero points. Ours included: we issue no label.
The labels we recognise
| Label | Points | What it guarantees |
|---|---|---|
| EU Ecolabel | 10 pts | The most demanding public standard there is. Strict criteria on energy, water and waste, independent checks and periodic renewal. |
| Green Key / Clef Verte | 9 pts | Present in more than sixty countries, run by the Foundation for Environmental Education. Third-party audits, public criteria. |
| BIO HOTELS | 9 pts | Requires a 100% certified organic kitchen, audited every year — the strictest food specification in Europe. |
| Umweltzeichen AT | 9 pts | The Austrian public ecolabel. High requirements on energy and construction, checked by an accredited body. |
| Viabono | 8 pts | A German standard backed by real consumption readings — one of the rare ones that measures rather than declares. |
| Flocon Vert | 8 pts | Mountain destinations and accommodation. Independent audit, twenty criteria covering water, energy and the local economy. |
| GSTC | 8 pts | The international bedrock of sustainable tourism, on which most other serious standards are built. |
| TourCert | 7 pts | External audit and a documented improvement process, with mandatory reassessment. |
| Biosphere Tourism | 7 pts | Four pillars: environment, economy, society, culture. Recognised by the World Tourism Organization. |
| Legambiente | 7 pts | The Italian standard, independently checked, demanding on waste and food. |
| Ecocert | 7 pts | An independent certification body, public standard, historically rooted in organic farming. |
A label is capped at ten points
That is deliberate. A certified property heated with fuel oil and reachable only by car will not score well, whatever its label.
The label confirms a commitment. It does not replace it, and it excuses nothing. The other ninety points come from what the place actually does.
What we do not count
Self-declarations and in-house charters, whatever they are called.
Labels with no audit by an independent third party, or whose criteria are not public.
“Carbon neutral” claims based on offsetting: these are not labels, they are claims, and they prove nothing about the place itself.
Is a label missing from this list?
If you are a host and hold a certification audited by an independent third party that we do not yet recognise, write to us: we will look at it and add it to the scoring scale if it meets the conditions.