1. Colombo Courtyard Blog | Colombo Courtyard: Certified
CarbonNeutral® for its 3rd year
By cclmarket

2. Colombo Courtyard, South Asia’s first CarbonNeutral® City Hotel, has received its CarbonNeutral® certification
for its third year. From its inception, our luxury City Boutique Hotel has focused on being an eco­friendly entity
that has tried to be as sustainable and green as possible. With a heavy focus on using recycled material in
construction and design, we took it a step further and decided to negate our emissions of greenhouse gases
completely. While not polluting is not an alternative when running an operation, we chose the next best option –
to be Carbon Neutral.
This process begins in­house, where emissions are cut considerably with the use of inverter power saving A/C’s
and LED lights that reduce electricity consumption, with solar panels also being used to provide as much clean
energy as possible. A rainwater collection system is also present, while water is provided in glass bottles at all
outlets and rooms, as opposed to plastic – to reduce disposing of the latter.
The emissions that cannot be stopped internally and indirectly – such as pollution from all transport­related

3. activities and from heat and gas emissions emitted from equipment owned and used internally – are calculated
by the Carbon Consulting Company (CCC). At the end of each year, CCC conducts a Carbon Footprint
Assessment, where they calculate Colombo Courtyard’s carbon emission and, using this information, buy
carbon credits to match the amount. These carbon credits are then used to sponsor an activity that will help
produce clean energy and air, that in turn will neutralize the emissions produced by Colombo Courtyard. These
sponsored projects not only produce clean energy, but provide job opportunities to the population surrounding
it.
After calculating the past year’s carbon footprint, it was found that emissions from Colombo Courtyard had
reduced by 60 tonnes from most emissions sources, but mainly from company owned vehicles and employee
commuting.
The Carbon Credits purchased by Colombo Courtyard this year will sponsor the Ratnapura and Kandy Small
Hydro Power Project, and also the Theni Wind Power Project.
The certificate for the year 2016 was handed over to Colombo Courtyard at a presentation ceremony by
Professor Munasinghe, A Nobel Laureate and Founder Director of the Carbon Consulting Company. Also
Present was Mr. Sanith D. S. Wijeyeratne, CEO of the Carbon Consulting Company who was part of the
presentation ceremony. Receiving the certification on behalf of Colombo Courtyard was Mr. Saranath
Rambukwella, Director of Colombo Courtyard and Mr. Roshan George, General Manager of Colombo
Courtyard.