ICEHOTEL awarded new sustainability certificationICEHOTEL has been certified an eco hotel by the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, Scandinavia’s most comprehensive eco labelling programme. With a substantial portion of rooms melting away and being re-built out of ice and snow every year, it has proven a unique challenge for the certification team and ICEHOTEL.
It has been a complex and intense process for ICEHOTEL to achieve the Swan certification, and despite the label’s many year’s of experience, this project has presented new challenges and unprecendented circumstances. An important part of the certification process is to benchmark consumption against hotel square meters – and how do you measure that when half of the rooms only exists between December and April?
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The first ever Swan certified hotel made of ice and snow
\u200bThe process of certification thoroughly examines all areas of operations, from energy and water consumption to waste management and eco purchasing policies; as well as site inspections and documentation. ICEHOTEL is eco-labeled for all aspects of hotel guest consumption, including cold and warm hotel rooms, restaurants and meeting spaces.
\u200bKerstin Nilsson, Senior Quality Advisor at ICEHOTEL says:
- It’s with great joy and pride that we receive the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. The Torne River is the mother of our product and of us as a business. She’s provided our guests with life enriching experiences for over thirty years. We were the European pioneers of guided river rafting tours and we were the first in the world to build a hotel and art exhibition using only frozen water. We are dependent on clean water, clean air and unspoilt nature. With a certification like this, it helps us in our day-to-day sustainability within the organization, and it’s a clear message for our clients and partners about our commitment. I hope we can inspire other companies to follow our lead, even if you have a unique product and have to find new ways as you go.
The Swan marks the second new eco label within a year for ICEHOTEL, who was certified a Sustainable Arctic Destination in the spring.
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\u200bAbout the Nordic Swan Eco Label
\u200bThe Nordic Swan Ecolabel, was born in 1989 when the Nordic council of ministers founded "the Swan" to help consumers choose environmentally concious products. It all started with Nordic Ecolabelled copying paper and batteries, but today you can choose from over 10 000 products and services carrying the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. After a few years, the EU founded the official European Ecolabel. Ecolabelling Sweden, a state owned non-profit company, is responsible for both the Nordic Swan Ecolabel aswell as the EU Ecolabel in Sweden.