If you are reading this article, then you are most likely a PADI Member hoping that your dive business will meet the criteria for PADI Eco Center. You want to help your operation to stand out from the crowd and have your sustainable efforts recognized.
A 2022 Reef-World survey revealed that dive tourists are looking for environmental education and are willing to pay more for sustainable options whilst on vacation. What’s holding them back from spending are concerns about contributing money towards “greenwashing”. That is, a business that presents itself as environmentally friendly but in reality, is not.
It is clear that divers and dive businesses alike call for a transparent, trustworthy and ambitious global eco label that addresses greenwashing fears and makes identification of “green” operators less of a challenge. As a result, PADI Eco Center was born.
For a general introduction to PADI Eco Center and how to get involved in PADI AWARE’s Adopt the Blue network and The Reef-World Foundation’s Green Fins initiative, check out this article.
But what if you are already an Adopt the Blue participant and an active Green Fins member? What comes next on your journey towards PADI Eco Center status? This article aims to shine a light on exactly what is meant by the need to “demonstrate an exemplary level of environmental best practice”, the most challenging requirement for PADI Eco Center recognition.
How does PADI know if my business demonstrates an exemplary level of environmental best practice?
Environmental performance is monitored by The Reef-World Foundation who operates the Green Fins initiative in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme. PADI Members who demonstrate an exemplary level of environmental best practice are reported in real-time to PADI as having met the challenging threshold for PADI Eco Center. Within 24 hours, should your dive business also be part of the Adopt the Blue network, you are recognized as a PADI Eco Center on the PADI Dive Shop Locator.
Why does Reef-World (through Green Fins) monitor my environmental performance and not PADI?
The Green Fins initiative has been running for almost two decades, establishing global expertise on how to successfully support dive operators to reduce their environmental impact year on year with proven results. For this reason, PADI chose to integrate Green Fins as the core environmental performance monitoring system for PADI Eco Center in order to directly address industry demand for a trustworthy, world-class and independently verified eco label.
How does Reef-World (through Green Fins) assess the environmental performance of my business?
Green Fins Certified membership is currently available in 9 countries worldwide – view the list. For PADI Operators where Certified membership is available (meaning a Green Fins assessor will visit your operation and conduct an assessment with you in person), you must be Silver or Gold Certified Member level to demonstrate exemplary environmental performance and be eligible for PADI Eco Center.
For all other regions, digital membership is available. The Green Fins digital membership process determines environmental performance by looking at each dive business holistically, taking into account meaningful interaction with all the resources and tools offered through the Green Fins Hub.
The primary resources and tools offered through the Green Fins Hub are:
A self-assessment tool, where you are asked to answer various questions relating to the impact of your operations on the natural world and receive a personalized review of your operational impact.
An action plan and progress tracker with solutions library, where you can view your custom-made action plan, report your progress and access a generous amount of free materials and low-cost, practical solutions that have been tested and proven to work to help you implement your chosen action plan.
A community forum, where you can interact with the Green Fins team, conservation NGOs and other like-minded marine tourism operators, sharing solutions that have worked for you and seeking advice from others in your position who have faced similar environmental challenges.
Based on ongoing interaction with the above resources, Green Fins Members are assigned an overall score as an indication of environmental performance. The Green Fins scoring system is dynamic, meaning your score constantly evolves as you and your team interact with the Hub and indicate changes to your environmental performance. Your score today may not be the same tomorrow!
What specific steps do I have to take to demonstrate exemplary environmental performance?
The Green Fins scoring system is incredibly complicated, and built up by engagement with the resources and tools outlined above. A journey to sustainability within a dive center is never one size fits all, it must be flexible and tailored to the operator’s resources, services and location. Therefore, it is impossible for this article to deliver a step-by-step guide that understands the specific circumstances of your dive business and provides you with a concrete list of actions to complete.
Luckily, this is exactly what the Green Fins membership process is developed to do – and more! Rather than simply providing you with an inflexible list of actions to complete, the process places the power in your hands. For digital membership, the system asks questions to understand your situation, then uses your responses to offer a range of possible sustainability solutions for you to choose from. As for certified membership, you’ll have a feedback session with a Green Fins assessor where you can discuss in-person what is feasible for your operation to take action on. Based on your choices it then crafts a custom action plan unique to your dive business and then supports you through it, with various prompts and helping hands along the way including a friendly Green Fins Hub Coordinator called Erin (reach her and the rest of the team on info@greenfins.net!).
The Green Fins Hub monitors progress in many different ways to ensure each operator is fairly recognised for their efforts and successes. What is for certain is that while the actions to reach the agreed level of exemplary environmental performance may vary, the achievement threshold for PADI Eco Center is consistent and fair for all PADI Members across the planet.
PADI Eco Center is a challenging and ambitious eco label that can take years to achieve.
At its core is the desire to make sustainable diving and snorkeling the social norm and bring about a diving culture that views environmental standards as equally necessary and second only to safety standards.
As Ara Livia Ardis from PADI Eco Center AquaMarine Diving – Bali points out, “Unfortunately, eco-awareness doesn’t naturally develop; it’s not a one-day program nor is it a one-person show.”
All PADI Eco Centers have achieved their status through true dedication to sustainable principles over a number of months/years. To join them, concern yourself less with how to become a PADI Eco Center and more with what you can do to create conservation experiences for your divers with PADI AWARE and consistently improve the environmental impact of your operations with Green Fins. Trust that when positive environmental impact becomes your driving force, you will certainly reach a level of exemplary environmental performance and be celebrated for it.
Be assured, PADI Eco Center status is absolutely achievable for any PADI Member with a genuine commitment to sustainability. This pioneering eco label is not a goal post to reach and then move on, it is a new, ongoing mindset to adopt, and the only way that we – as industry leaders – will truly get to where we need to go for our industry to continue to thrive.
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