In the public web repository Biosphere Sustainable you can find entities with a Biosphere certificate issued by Biosphere Responsible Tourism (BRT) from a map view, which shows you the geographic location where you can find that entity, and from a list view, which is ordered alphabetically.

When carrying out your searches in this repository, you will be able to filter by additional characteristics that may be found among entities holding Biosphere certification issued by BRT —such as having at least one vegan or vegetarian option in their food and beverage offering, offering tours or shows, having their own vegetable garden or having bicycle parking available, among others—. These characteristics, drawn from the data and evidence provided by the entity and assessed during the certification process, are for informational purposes only.

The icons you will find on www.biospheresustainable.com have been designed to help you quickly identify information associated with certain actions, services or characteristics of the entities holding a certificate issued by our certification body.

These icons have a purely informative function and should be understood as a visual aid to guide your browsing, not as a general guarantee of sustainability.

The purpose of this iconography, designed by Biosphere Responsible Tourism, S.L., is to facilitate a first reading of the information shared in this repository, without replacing the full review of each entity's profile or the verification of the status, scope and assessment level of the information published on this website.

The domain www.biospheresustainable.com is owned by Biosphere Responsible Tourism, S.L. (BRT), a certification body with CIF B76584770, registered office at Calle de la Rosa 1, 1º Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 38004, Spain.

BRT uses this domain as a public repository for the certifications it grants and as a platform for managing its certification services and processes online.

Biosphere is the Conformity Assessment Scheme —hereinafter, EEC-Biosphere, or simply the Biosphere Scheme— created by the Responsible Tourism Institute (RTI).

A conformity assessment scheme is not just a document containing the criteria and certification levels that can be obtained. It is the complete set of rules governing the whole process: what is assessed (the requirements and levels of the Biosphere Scheme), how the audit must be carried out (the methodology, the independence required of the audit team, the evidence that must be provided), how conformity with the applicable requirements is determined, how certification decisions are adopted, and how monitoring is carried out once the certificate has been granted, including the conditions for its maintenance, suspension or withdrawal.

The RTI owns the Biosphere Scheme and its visual identity, and is the body responsible for its development, maintenance and updating. The RTI does not take part in the assessment, review or certification decision of entities, which fall to the certification bodies authorised to operate the Scheme. You can consult the Biosphere Scheme's documentation on the Responsible Tourism Institute's (RTI) website https://www.responsibletourisminstitute.com 

Biosphere Responsible Tourism, S.L. (BRT) is a certification body authorised by the Responsible Tourism Institute (ITR) to operate the Biosphere Scheme. BRT independently assesses entities' conformity with the applicable requirements of the Scheme and is responsible for the audit processes and the corresponding certification decisions, including their granting, maintenance, suspension or withdrawal. The ITR, as owner of the Scheme, does not take part in the assessment, review or certification decision of entities, thereby preserving the separation between the ownership and development of the Scheme and the certification functions.

As an authorised certification body, BRT uses the Biosphere mark in accordance with the conditions established by the ITR to identify the certifications granted under the Biosphere Scheme. The domain www.biospheresustainable.com is owned by BRT; the ITR does not take part in its management.

The Biosphere Scheme, which establishes the certification requirements and levels, the conditions for obtaining them and the rules governing the certification process, including its monitoring, maintenance, suspension and withdrawal, can be found on the official website of its owner, the Responsible Tourism Institute (RTI) www.responsibletourisminstitute.com

"Biosphere Committed" identifies companies that have met the basic requirements of the Biosphere Scheme and have obtained this initial certification level, always after passing the corresponding external audit.

"Biosphere Certified" identifies businesses that have reached a certification level higher than Committed, by meeting the additional conditions established by the Scheme for this second level; in the case of destinations, Biosphere Certified is the only certification level provided for by the Biosphere Scheme. On each entity's profile you can consult the level, scope and validity of its certificate.

To find out in detail the requirements applicable to each level, consult the Biosphere Scheme, available for public consultation on the website of its owner, the Responsible Tourism Institute (RTI) www.responsibletourisminstitute.com

For destinations, the Biosphere Scheme establishes a single certification level: "Biosphere Certified", with the requirements and conditions established specifically for obtaining it. You can consult the Biosphere Scheme on the Responsible Tourism Institute's (RTI) website www.responsibletourisminstitute.com

Every company or tourism-territorial manager (destination) documents on the platform Biosphere Sustainable the sustainability actions it carries out, providing the corresponding evidence. That documentation is not published just like that: before appearing in this repository, it is assessed through an external and independent audit to determine the entity's conformity with the applicable requirements of the Scheme.

On the basis of the results of the certification process, BRT adopts the corresponding certification decision. When the decision is favourable, it grants the certificate and the entity's profile becomes part of this repository, where the status, scope and validity of its certification can be consulted, together with the information associated with the assessed actions.

Changes in the certification status arising from monitoring, suspension or withdrawal activities are reflected in the repository's public information in real time.

The requirements of the Biosphere Scheme, developed by the Responsible Tourism Institute (RTI), are structured around the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This structure makes it possible to relate the requirements and the actions assessed during the certification process to the various SDGs.

In this repository, the SDGs also make it possible to organise and present the information associated with the assessed actions, making it easier to identify the SDG areas to which they relate. This linkage forms part of the Biosphere Scheme's methodology and does not imply an endorsement or certification by the United Nations. Its display in this repository has the sole purpose of facilitating an initial reading of the information shared, drawing on the language of the SDGs as the most widely used way of talking about sustainability.

Becoming certified with Biosphere Responsible Tourism (BRT) under the Biosphere Scheme means that an external and independent audit team will review the evidence of your sustainability actions to determine their conformity with the applicable requirements of the Scheme. On the basis of the results of the process, BRT will adopt the corresponding certification decision, so this is not a certification that can be self-awarded, nor a distinction obtained without assessment.

The certification process with BRT begins on the Biosphere Sustainable platform, 100% online and in the language of your choice, among the 7 in which we offer our services.

Creating your profile on the platform is free: it is only when you decide to move forward towards the assessment of the documentation provided by your entity that you need to take out our certification services.

The certificate level you can obtain under the Biosphere Scheme depends on the type of entity and on meeting the conditions established by the Scheme for obtaining it: as a business, the certification levels are Biosphere Committed and Biosphere Certified, with Committed being the first certification level; as a destination management body (destination), the only level provided for by the Scheme is Biosphere Certified.

You can check the certification process with Biosphere Responsible Tourism step by step and find out more about our services on our sales website www.biospheretourism.com.

No. The Biosphere Scheme is granted individually to each entity included in the certification process. Therefore, a chain or group does not obtain a single certification that automatically extends to all of its establishments or entities.

Each hotel, restaurant or establishment must create its own profile and individually complete the corresponding certification process in order to obtain its certificate. This is the only way to guarantee that the documentation assessed genuinely corresponds to what each individual entity does, rather than assuming that an entire group complies because part of it does.

If your entity is part of a chain or a group, the Biosphere Sustainable platform — Biosphere Responsible Tourism's working tool throughout the whole certification process— is indeed designed to facilitate that joint management. This platform offers a corporate dashboard from which to view, monitor and centrally manage the individual certification processes of its different business units. The platform also allows the management of protocols, plans or other common corporate documentation that may be applicable to different entities within the group. Likewise, as many users as the group needs can be registered to facilitate the management of all the documentation.

These corporate features are solely for document management during the certification process; the certificate itself always remains individual, per entity.

If you are part of a group or chain and are interested in purchasing our platform and certification services for 5 or more entities in your group, write to us at info@biospheresustainable.com 

As a certification body, Biosphere Responsible Tourism (BRT) cannot offer you consultancy support or take part in the design or preparation of your entity's documentation —for example, telling you whether a specific document is sufficient to demonstrate conformity with a requirement, or advising you on how to plan or carry out an action to pass the assessment—, whatever the scheme under which you become certified with us.

BRT is the body responsible for assessing entities' conformity and for adopting the corresponding certification decisions, including their granting, maintenance, suspension or withdrawal. For this reason, we must preserve our impartiality and avoid any consultancy activity that could compromise the independence required of a certification body.

The support we can offer you within our certification services is limited to explaining how our working tools (the Biosphere Sustainable platform and repository) function, and the different steps of the certification process with our body. Likewise, we can provide you with assistance in the event of incidents related to our services and tools, and inform you about the channels available for enquiries, complaints and appeals.

In the specific case of the certification process with BRT under the Biosphere Scheme —at present, the only one we offer— you will not need additional help to complete the process: our Biosphere Sustainable platform is designed so that you can work through it autonomously. There you will find the explanation of each requirement as set out by the scheme, clear guidance on what documentation is valid as evidence for each requirement, and all the information relating to the audit steps, audit reports and document uploads.

All in a simple, fast and intuitive digital system! That is why it is just as useful for sole traders as for small, medium and large businesses, with management functionalities designed for each case.

And if you need to involve several people from your team, you don't need to worry about that either: our platform allows access to be given to as many users as you need, at no additional cost. You can add whoever works with you on the sustainability plan and the certification documentation, whether staff from your own entity or external personnel you have hired to help you, such as specialised consultants.

If you have questions about the Scheme's requirements, remember that its documentation is available for public consultation on the website of the Responsible Tourism Institute (RTI), owner of the Scheme: www.responsibletourisminstitute.com

Certification with Biosphere Responsible Tourism (BRT) is not limited to a single certificate-award assessment: as a certification body, we carry out monitoring activities on certified entities to verify that certification conditions continue to be met.

In the case of the Biosphere Scheme, the certified entity must submit updated documentation evidencing compliance with the requirements every year, to verify that it continues to meet the conditions applicable to its certification. You can consult the monitoring rules established by the Scheme on the website of the Responsible Tourism Institute (ITR) www.responsibletourisminstitute.com

At BRT we carry out this certification maintenance service, updating accordingly the public information on the entity's certification status in this repository.

If these annual monitoring assessments determine that the entity has ceased to meet the certification conditions, BRT may suspend or withdraw the certificate, in which case its profile will no longer appear in this repository; if what it can no longer demonstrate is a specific requirement of the scheme, that information is removed from its profile. In any case, the applicable change is implemented in real time in this web repository and in the certification materials issued to the entity, from the moment the assessment is completed and the corresponding decision is adopted.