35 TEE BOX Updated sustainability standards renew focus on water environments and social good GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation has released the third edition of Sustainable Golf Development: Voluntary Sustainability Standard, which it describes as “the most significant update to the expectations the industry has today around the sustainability outcomes that projects can seek to achieve”. The latest edition has a renewed focus on good stewardship of water environments and the social good that can be generated through golf developments. The revision was led by an international expert working group including Dr Sara Beavis, Robert Donkers, Richard Holland, Tom Mackenzie, Ross Perrett, Martin Moore and Jason Straka, and the consultation process was facilitated by GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation in alignment with the International Social and Environmental Accreditation Labelling Alliance’s Code of Good Practice. Sam Thomas, director of golf developments at GEO, said: “It has been enjoyable to facilitate these conversations with the public, stakeholders and the international working group over the past six months to help publish these updated standards. We are excited to use these in the field over the coming years – and to keep helping golf developments round the world be at the front of sustainabilityled approaches and outcomes.” Tyler Annan, project manager at GEO, added: “It’s clear that thinking has shifted – sustainability is now built into how decisions are made, and people want to push that further. Day to day, we see the drive and creativity that individual projects have to meet these standards. That is what really drives sustainability to the next level.” Download the third edition of Sustainable Golf Development: Voluntary Sustainability Standard at: sustainable. golf/about/ credibility/ standards/ developmentstandard Photo: Jacob Sjöman La Réserve Golf Links at the Heritage Golf Club in Mauritius was the first golf course in Africa to achieve GEO Certified Development status
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