Reduce your carbon footprint with these retreats that blend sustainability with comfort.
Environmental sustainability is an everyday priority for pioneering hotels across the globe. Here we look at some of our favourites and what they’re doing to be green.
Sun Island Resort, Maldives
Set on one of the largest Maldivian Islands close to the South Ari Marine Protected Area (SAMPA), and home to a thriving biodiversity and marine life, Sun Island Resort & Spa is a luxury eco resort where natural beauty meets vibrant interior design and luxurious indoor-outdoor living spaces. The focus has been on cultivating and sourcing local produce later served in the resort’s restaurant. Moreover, the Sun Island resort has also replaced plastic water bottles with glass bottles and donated all plastic for recycling in a partnership with a nonprofit organization. Among other sustainable initiatives, the resort has implemented eco-friendly techniques to reduce energy and water consumption, and it also organizes regular clean-ups on the islands with staff members and guests.
Address: Nalaguraidhoo, South Ari Atoll, South Ari Atoll, 20181, Maldives
Website: villahotels.com/sun-island
Buahan, A Banyan Tree Escape, Bali, Indonesia
Buahan, a Banyan Tree Escape is set in an off-the-beaten-track, untouched part of northern Ubud. Pioneering a “no walls, no doors” concept throughout the property and in each of its 16 balés (villas), the adults-only Buahan, is an invitation into a different way of being. At the resort’s heart are the Open Kitchen and Living Room, both open dining and lounge spaces created to evoke a sense of community. Here, guests are invited to learn how the resort reinvents the basics of food and drink through its unique zero-waste farm-to-table concept, local sourcing philosophy and heritage techniques. The menu concept, 70% of which is plant-based, is sourced locally within a one-hour drive from the property. The Botanist Bar is centred around the use of local-grown natural ingredients and botanicals infused into its beverages, while Toja Spa celebrates the wellbeing traditions from Buahan village and its surrounding areas, with a unique “open” garden experience – certified by the award-winning Banyan Tree Spa Academy.
Address: Jl, Buahan Kaja, Kec. Payangan, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80572, Indonesia
Website: escape.banyantree.com
Svart, Norway
Located just above the Arctic Circle, Svart is the World’s first energy-positive off-grid destination and aims to inspire discerning travellers to care for the protection of nature, preservation and the importance of the pristine polar region. The hotel aims to save 85% of its annual energy consumption and harvest enough solar energy to cover both the hotel operations, including its boat shuttle operation and the energy needed to construct the building.
Address: Svart, 8161 Glomfjord, Norway
Website: svart.no
The Brando, French Polynesia
The Brando is a unique luxury resort on French Polynesia’s breathtakingly beautiful private island of Tetiaroa – an atoll composed of a dozen small islands surrounding a sparkling lagoon 30 miles northeast of Tahiti. The resort has implemented a number of innovative programs and new technologies to achieve their goal of carbon neutrality. Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) harnesses the cold of the ocean depths to provide low-energy, highly efficient cooling for all the buildings, reducing energy demands by almost 70%. Solar energy produced from photovoltaic solar panels along the airstrip provide over half of the resort’s remaining energy needs and solar heating provides all of the resort’s hot water. The resort is also fully biofuel capable and uses coconut oil biofuel for its power station whenever it can be procured.
Address: The Brando, Teti’aroa, Arue Tahiti, French Polynesia
Website: thebrando.com
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, New York
Situated at Pier 1, just south of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, in Brooklyn Bridge Park with sweeping waterfront views of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is a 100 percent wind powered property. The hotel features low-energy light bulbs, a Triple Clear water purification system, in-room recycling bins, and fresh dining offerings. The Hotel also operates a rainwater reclamation system on their roof top, that sends water down to irrigate the neighboring Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Address: 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, 60 Furman Street, Brooklyn, New York
Website: 1hotels.com
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