Green Key is a leading standard of excellence in the field of sustainable tourism, guiding tourism establishments to do their part in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. In our new feature series we will present each of the 17 SDGs and explain their connection to Green Key.
In 2015, the UN member states adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to guide governments, the private sector and civil society in transforming our world into safer, fairer and more livable place.
On this page, you will learn more about Goal 9: "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation"
What is Goal 9 about?
According to the UN, "Goal 9 encompasses three important aspects of sustainable development: infrastructure, industrialisation and innovation. Infrastructure provides the basic physical systems and structures essential to the operation of a society or enterprise. Industrialisation drives economic growth, creates job opportunities and thereby reduces income poverty. Innovation advances the technological capabilities of industrial sectors and prompts the development of new skills.” In the link above, you can read about the targets and indicators to Goal 9.
Sustainable development depends on innovation and technological process that help optimise the use of resources and minimise the environmental impact of infrastructures. Infrastructure development causes a great share of total worldwide emissions, while at the same time representing a huge opportunity for environmental performance improvement. Energy efficiency, responsible construction waste management, eco-friendly material sourcing, climate risk reduction, green area integration, clean technologies… These are only some of the solutions XXI century has to offer to significantly lower the impact new infrastructure and renovations have on the environment.
How does Green Key help to achieve Goal 9?
The environmental performance of an establishment is strongly connected to how thermo-efficient the building is, how spaces are organised and how ventilation is managed. For this reason, the Green Key programme encourages its certified establishments to consider building upgrades (SDG target 9.4) as a way to optimise resource consumption and save activity costs. Renovations should be carried out with environmental sustainability, resilience, and reliability in mind, using adequate materials and adopting smart engineering solutions to lower impacts. The programme promotes innovation and sustainable infrastructure in several ways:
CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES – Green Key nudges establishments to reduce their consumption of water, heat, and energy using latest technologies such as energy-saving appliances (criteria category 7), water-saving devices (criteria category 4) and renewable energy use and/or on-site production (criteria 7.13, 7.14, 7.29). The programme partners up with many companies and startups making a real effort in the advancement of green technologies that can make a real change for Green Key sites’ environmental performance;
INSULATION AND BUILDING RATING – National and international classifications often provide requirements that can help establishments improve their environmental performance and reduce their energy consumption, by optimising insulation and energy efficiency in the building. By preventing heat loss in the cold months or heat intake in the summer, air conditioning, heating and cooling (HVAC) systems end up consuming less than they would in a poorly insulated building. For these reasons, Green Key recommends certified establishments to apply for green building ratings (criterion 7.20) and find out how they can improve their performance, e.g. by increasing insulation of windows above national compliance standards (criterion 7.17). Investments in cleaner solutions and insulation can be paid back in time, for example by lower bills and utilities.
RENOVATION MATERIALS – Renovation, upgrades and refurbishments of infrastructure represent opportunities for establishments to improve their environmental performance, but they also generate construction waste and pollution. Green Key endorses its certified establishments to pick materials responsibly to make sure that renovations have the lowest negative impacts for the environment and the well-being of the users of the building, for example by choosing eco-friendly (criterion 9.5) and locally sourced materials (9.6), so that transportation, cleaning, waste handling and maintenance costs are taken into account and always kept low.
A document describing Green Key’s overall contribution to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals can be downloaded here.
