Client

La Ballena Alegre campsite is an ecotourism complex located in Sant Pere Pescador (Girona, Spain). It features 809 camping pitches and 313 bungalows, offering additional amenities such as various dining options, bathing areas, a spa, shopping areas, and a hairdressing and beauty center.

With the motto of “Responsible Holidays,” La Ballena Alegre has been committed to sustainability for over twenty years, becoming a European benchmark in responsible tourism. It has won several awards, including the European Solar Prize in 2020 and the ADAC Camping Awards 2022, among others.

The goal of La Ballena Alegre is to reduce its emissions to zero. In terms of energy, it works with a long-term goal: covering all energy demand with self-consumption during the low season and relying only on green energy from the company during peak occupancy. Many of its bungalows use photovoltaic solar energy, geothermal wells have been installed, and solar thermal energy has been chosen to centrally generate hot sanitary water. Additionally, the campsite has charging points for electric vehicles, ecological and sustainable concrete-free swimming pools, and sustainable bathrooms renovated with local materials. Regarding the organic foods and products in the catering services, they are both organic and locally sourced, ensuring that both suppliers and customers are responsible.

Challenge

To quantify the carbon footprint of 2022 according to ISO 14064-1:2018 and identify potential opportunities to reduce it. Specifically, to inventory all significant emissions for each of the emission categories described by this standard (direct emissions and absorptions, indirect emissions derived from energy, indirect emissions derived from transportation, indirect emissions from products used by the organization, and indirect emissions associated with the use of the organization’s products); quantify the carbon footprint, both its absolute value and the relative values per overnight stay and guest, and interpret the results to identify the stages or elements where the main sources of emissions are generated and where measures need to be applied.

What was done?

The study was implemented collaboratively and coordinated between the management and direction of La Ballena Alegre, using the online tool èdit®, designed by inèdit. This tool allows companies to measure the carbon footprint of both their products and their organization from a life cycle perspective, update their annual inventories, and compare results over time. The tool can be tailored to fit the specific needs of any company.

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Results

10.650 tn CO2 eq.

This is La Ballena Alegre’s carbon footprint.

Of these emissions, only 3% are direct emissions, 0% are indirect emissions from imported energy, 68% are indirect emissions from transportation (of which 97.9% are caused by visitor travel), and 29% are indirect emissions from products used by the organization (the two main ones being products purchased from third parties and waste generation).

0,3 g CO2 eq.

This is the carbon footprint per night and guest.

Conclusions

Gràcies al càlcul de la petjada de carboni de La Ballena Alegre, s’han identificat algunes oportunitats per reduir-la, entre les quals destaquen: avaluar la sostenibilitat de la cadena de subministrament i desenvolupar un pla d’acció per seleccionar proveïdors que ofereixin productes i serveis amb menys impacte ambiental; impulsar la mobilitat sostenible tant de la flota interna com de les persones treballadores, així com els desplaçaments dels visitants; i fomentar sistemes de reutilització dels envasos.

All the cases