Maduro & Curiel’s Bank (Bonaire) N.V. (MCB) received a certificate and award from the hands of Commissioner Hennyson Thielman and representatives of the Blue Destination steering committee on July 22nd. This means that MCB has made a special effort in the field of sustainability in its business operations and managed to obtain a total of 4 stars as a result. Currently there are a total of 11 companies that are Blue Destination certified. These companies are an example and inspiration for other companies in this area. Furthermore, there are still a number of companies in the process of certification. These will be announced shortly.
The certification of companies is a joint initiative of the Blue Destination steering committee, the Public Entity of Bonaire and the Good Travel Guide. The Chamber of Commerce serves as the front office for the certification and the audit is conducted by Good Travel Guide as an independent party.
The certification has many benefits for businesses, including transparency. Companies can show their customers in which aspects they are doing well. For example, certified companies use 19% less water, 24% less waste and 10% less CO2. This results in direct savings on these components. Certified companies also get better reviews and ratings from their customers. So it also results in more satisfied guests and higher ratings. Finally, the companies are included on the website of Blue Destination, Good Travel Guide and also on other websites (including Sustainable First). Certification allows a business to show that they meet the standards of an independent certification for sustainable business practices.
The Virus Aware Seal is an “add-on” to the Blue Destination certification. This additional certification further expands the criteria for “Health and Safety”. The Virus Aware Seal ensures that the company is in compliance with all regulations resulting from COVID-19 and other Health and Safety matters. An independent auditor determined at the time of the audit that these precautions were in place. MCB has scored 94% for this and is thus also Virus Aware Seal certified. Also for this certification, companies receive a scorecard for the company’s measures and protocols taken to reduce the risk of virus transmission.
The scorecard of the certified companies is available at www.bluedestination.com as well as the publicly available scorecard. The themes scored on are: Purchasing and sales, Social well-being & local employment, prevention of exploitation, Health & Safety, Accessibility, Energy & Climate, Waste water, Prevention of pollution & nuisance, ‘Nature, scenery & Green zones’, Cultural Heritage, Public reporting of sustainability. We invite you to view MCB’s scorecard on the Blue Destination website. MCB is congratulated on this milestone and thus acts as an example for other offices that want to contribute to making Bonaire more sustainable. All types of companies, large or small can play a role in this.
Visit the Bonaire Blue Destination website for all the scorecards of the certified companies. There is also an indication of the costs per company. Registration for the certification program is possible through: info@bluedestination.com
