Our climate journey
1.4 billion. That's the number of people who travel every year, trying new cuisines, exploring biodiverse ecosystems, and immersing themselves in places and cultures not their own. That's also 1.4 billion people with the power to affect those places, for better or worse.
We think protecting the destinations we depend on is up to us, the businesses that welcome travellers into them. Here's honestly where we stand on that, and what we're actually doing about it.
How we think about climate action
We try to be precise about this, because vague claims don't help anyone. Our approach has four parts, in this order:
We measure. Understanding our own footprint is the starting point for everything else.
We reduce. Cutting emissions inside our own operations, from energy use to waste to water, comes first, and it's the part that takes the most sustained work over time.
We fund additional climate action. Reducing our own footprint takes time, and climate change doesn't wait. That's why we also support climate projects around the world, through our membership with Sustainable Travel International, a mission-driven organisation that has spent over 20 years vetting and selecting high-quality climate projects. These projects don't cancel out our own emissions, they're a separate, additional way of helping fund climate solutions at a scale no single small hotel could achieve alone.
We tell you honestly how it's going. Including the parts that are still a work in progress.
Our 2025 footprint, measured
In 2025, working with Sustainable Travel International, we measured our full footprint across Scopes 1, 2 and 3: energy use at the hotel, business travel, and staff commuting.
Total footprint: 16.47 tonnes of CO2e
- Natural gas (stationary combustion): 8.16 t CO2e
- Grid electricity: 7.15 t CO2e
- Staff commuting (car and rail): 0.83 t CO2e
- Business travel (air, coach) and hotel stays: 0.33 t CO2e
Electricity and gas together account for over 90% of our measured footprint, which tells us exactly where our own reduction efforts need to focus next.
To put 16.47 tonnes into perspective: it's roughly what 16.5 acres of forest in the United States would absorb from the atmosphere in a year, or the annual emissions of about 3.8 cars.
We fully funded the equivalent of our entire 2025 footprint through verified climate projects with Sustainable Travel International. We don't call this "carbon neutral": funding climate projects elsewhere doesn't erase the emissions a stay here still produces. What it does mean is that we measured honestly, funded climate action at the full scale of our own footprint, and we're telling you exactly how.
Our certifications, the part that's independently verified
Since 2026, our Vernazza flat holds the Cinque Terre National Park's CETS Phase II certification for sustainable tourism, verified through audits carried out by the Park's own technical staff and an external auditor from another certified protected area. We're also currently working towards Green Globe certification, the international standard for sustainable tourism businesses, an independently audited process, not a self-declared badge.
The climate projects we help fund
Through our membership with Sustainable Travel International, we help fund climate projects that go beyond our own operations. These aren't a way of erasing our footprint, they're an investment in climate solutions that need collective support to happen at all.
Protecting the Amazon. The Envira Amazonia Project protects 39,300 hectares of Brazilian rainforest that would otherwise have been cleared for logging and cattle ranching, while creating alternative livelihoods and improving healthcare access for local communities. More on this project.
Turning bamboo waste into soil health. The WongPhai Bamboo Biochar project, in Thailand, takes bamboo offcuts that would otherwise be burned, releasing CO2, and converts them into biochar instead, locking carbon away for centuries while improving soil health and reducing dependence on chemical fertilisers in local rice paddies. More on this project.
Wind power in the Dominican Republic. The Larimar Wind Farm generates enough renewable energy for around 200,000 people a year, alongside funding hospital equipment, first aid training and marine research for the rural Enriquillo community. More on this project.
Protecting orangutans and peat swamp forest. The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve, in Indonesian Borneo, protects critical peat swamp forest from conversion to palm oil plantations and supports the rehabilitation and release of endangered orangutans, while helping local communities build alternative livelihoods. More on this project.
What we still need to work on
Being honest about this is part of the point. Electricity and gas are, by far, our biggest sources of emissions, so that's where our own reduction work matters most going forward, ahead of anything we fund externally. Green Globe certification is also still in progress, not yet complete. We'll update this page, and our footprint, again next year.
Learn more about our values and sustainable goals
FAQ
Is the Oasi a carbon-neutral hotel?
We don't use that term. In 2025 we measured our footprint at 16.47 tonnes of CO2e and fully funded its equivalent in verified climate projects through Sustainable Travel International, but that funding doesn't cancel out the emissions of a stay here. We prefer to be specific: we measure, we work to reduce our own footprint, and we separately fund additional climate projects.
What was your actual carbon footprint in 2025?
16.47 tonnes of CO2e across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, mostly from natural gas heating and grid electricity at the hotel.
What does Sustainable Travel International actually do with your contribution?
It funds independently verified climate projects, currently including forest protection in the Amazon, a biochar project in Thailand, a wind farm in the Dominican Republic, and peat forest protection in Indonesian Borneo. These are separate from, and additional to, our own efforts to reduce emissions at the hotel.
Is CETS certification the same as being carbon neutral?
No. CETS Phase II is the Cinque Terre National Park's certification for sustainable tourism practices, verified through independent audits. It's a real, third-party-verified credential, but it's a different thing from a carbon-neutral claim, which we don't make.
