Jamaica Property Launches Carbon Offsetting Program

As part of its ongoing commitment to operating an environmentally-friendly business, 10-room Hotel Mocking Bird Hill in Jamaica is taking on the big issue of carbon offsetting.

The 10-room Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, a hillside retreat in the foothills of the Blue Mountains near Port Antonio, teamed up with Sustainable Travel International to launch a carbon offsetting program through STI’s internationally accredited program called My Climate.

The hotel’s goal is to become a carbon neutral, eco-boutique property by “offsetting our carbon emissions and enabling our guests to offset the carbon emissions produced by their flights to Jamaica,” according to owner Shireen Aga.

According to the hotel, this will be achieved through a partnership with the Jamaica Conservation Dept. Trust, an agency that has an extensive reforestation program using native Jamaican forest trees that it grows from seedlings in its own nursery. The trees are then planted in areas identified as high priorities for rehabilitation.

Aga said that guests “who want to contribute locally and help us preserve the Jamaican environment can purchase trees to offset the emissions produced by their journey to Jamaica.”

STI calculated the average quantity of greenhouse gases that are emitted per passenger for short-, medium- and long-haul flights and then figured out how many trees would need to be planted to neutralize this carbon impact.