Dive tourists are looking for sustainable dive experiences, are willing to pay for them and are looking to further their education on sustainability whilst on vacation (ref: Sustainability in a Recovering Travel World, The Reef-World Foundation, 2022). The only thing holding them back? Fear of greenwashing and an inability to decipher the often-confusing world of sustainability and conservation labelling. Essentially, they don’t know where to find what they are looking for.
To support PADI Dive Operators across the globe in focusing your conservation efforts in a clear and unified direction (and knowing that everything you do will be clearly understood by your potential customers), PADI launched the Eco Center designation.
In December of 2023, only eight months after the Eco Center designation was launched, Condé Nast Traveller listed eco-diving with PADI as the #2 trend for 2024. In March 2024, Fast Company titled PADI the #5 most innovative travel company thanks in part to the Eco Center program.
What is a PADI Eco Center?
PADI Eco Centers are the premier choice for all divers, adventurers and travel experts seeking ocean-first, marine conscious operators that place sustainability at the top of their agenda.
There are three criteria that a PADI Operators must meet to qualify as a PADI Eco Center:
- participation in the PADI AWARE Adopt the Blue™ program
- be an active Green Fins Member
- achieve a Green Fins Digital Score or Certified Rank that evidences low environmental impact
These requirements were selected to advance the PADI Blueprint for Ocean Action and support the PADI Pillars of Change, designed to integrate the core values of conservation and dive industry sustainability across the entire PADI network. We recommend operators give themselves at least 12 months to meet the minimum standards required for this designation.
Through Adopt the Blue, each PADI Eco Center is actively promoting marine biodiversity and community resilience by addressing our ocean’s global challenges; marine debris, vulnerable species protection, habitat loss and climate change. PADI Eco Centers create opportunities for divers and non-divers alike to engage with direct conservation action like citizen science and data collection, policy advocacy, and education.
Combined with PADI’s partners, The Reef-World Foundation’s United Nations Green Fins Initiative, PADI Eco Centers also demonstrate an exemplary level of environmental best practice through their Green Fins Digital Score (1-10) or Certified Rank (Bronze, Silver, Gold). To earn this recognition, each PADI Eco Center has made substantial changes to educate all staff members and reduce the environmental footprint of their operations, embedding sustainability as a core business value.
Wherever you find them, PADI Eco Centers offer a trustworthy choice for all ocean enthusiasts who want to ensure that the cost of their marine adventure goes hand in hand with the protection and restoration of natural resources and the well-being of local communities.
Why become a PADI Eco Center?
Working towards PADI Eco Center status provides a clear pathway for your business to reduce the environmental footprint of your operations while creating opportunities for your divers to help tackle our ocean’s greatest challenges.
PADI Eco Centers will receive additional media attention through PADI’s PR, digital marketing and social channels who are always looking to identify and elevate PADI Members who embody our vision for a future where humanity lives in balance with the ocean.
Reef-World’s 2022 survey of over 1500 divers from over 100 countries found that 88% of divers aged 18 – 40 are looking for sustainable dive operators that prioritize marine conservation when booking a trip. That means that regardless of how you feel about saving the ocean, adopting sustainability as a core operational value and conservation as a dive experience is just a solid business decision.
Furthermore, the Eco Center Designation can be a powerful tool for differentiation in competitive markets. Standing out from the mass as a dive operation can be hard and costly, but, in combination with positioning, makes up the backbone of any marketing strategy. As the Eco Center needs to be earned by putting in the work, this credential can help you elevate your business out from the competition.
How to become a PADI Eco Center
Three criteria are involved in becoming a PADI Eco Center:
1. Participation in PADI AWARE’s Adopt the Blue Program
PADI AWARE is dedicated to creating opportunities for dive operators to take local action for global impact, tackling five major ocean challenges: shark and rays, marine debris, coral restoration, climate change and habitat loss.
Head to adopttheblue.org to learn more about the network and view the global map. To join is free and takes 10 minutes on the PADI AWARE App.
You can adopt any of your local dive sites and in doing so, you are letting PADI AWARE:
- Know that this dive site is important
- Understand your ecosystem and local conservation challenges
- Suggest appropriate conservation actions for your business (courses, citizen science, grant funding)
- Identify new regions for localized policy campaigns, working with you to establish new marine protected areas and regulations to protect the foundation of your business
- Promote you on the global map as destination for marine conservation
2. Become a Green Fins Member
PADI’s partner, The Reef-World Foundation, operates the United Nation’s Green Fins Initiative. This initiative exists to protect ocean ecosystems by providing dive operators with environmental guidelines that promote a sustainable diving and snorkeling industry.
Green Fins offers digital and certified membership, and both are equally eligible for PADI Eco Center recognition. Certified membership is available in a select number of countries where Green Fins national teams exist, and all other PADI Members not in these countries are encouraged to apply for digital membership. Learn more about the different memberships here.
As a Green Fins Member, you will receive an in-person assessment or conduct a self-evaluation of your operations that will help you understand where you are doing well with your environmental impact, and where you could improve. It will be up to you and your team to agree on three/four actions to take in the coming year, and commitment to these actions, along with the Green Fins Code of Conduct (a.k.a. internationally recognized best environmental practice for divers), is what makes you a Green Fins Member.
Green Fins digital membership has a fee of $140 in the first year, and $60 in subsequent years. Certified membership fees vary by country, as this decision is controlled by each government. All fees associated with Green Fins digital membership are in place to directly fund the initiative and ensure that the program remains operational regardless of external grant funding to The Reef-World Foundation (non-profit charity status).
3. Achieve a Green Fins Digital Score or Certified Rank that Evidences Low Environmental Impact
Here’s where the hard work comes in. But it’s worth it! To be eligible for PADI Eco Center status, you must not only have committed to conservation action and operational sustainability, but also be able to demonstrate achievement in both areas.
By teaching PADI AWARE courses and creating opportunities for fins-on conservation, while improving your confidential Green Fins score with concrete actions that reduce your environmental footprint, you reach a level of worthy recognition. At this point, you and your team can be very proud of what you’ve achieved! You’ve certainly worked hard and come a long way.
To improve your Green Fins score, you must:
- Log progress on your action plan
Report that changes have been implemented, thereby reducing your overall environmental impact and increasing your Green Fins score
- Engage with the community forum, contributing to the discussion of sustainability by asking questions or sharing solutions to sustainability challenges
All staff members can register on the hub and engage in the forum, providing a route for your whole team to engage in the challenge of sustainability. Each time anyone on the team contributes to sustainability discussion, your operation will receive points that help to improve your score.
FAQs
Still have questions? We have answers!
No. Once you meet the above criteria, you will automatically be recognized as a PADI Eco Center. Your listing on the Dive Shop Locator will include your new designation and you will have access to the PADI Eco Center digital marketing toolkit.
If you feel you already meet the criteria but have not been recognized, please reach out to your Regional Manager.
As the PADI Eco Center is an ambitious designation showcasing the best dive centers not everyone will be able to achieve this right away.
The Green Fins program will evaluate your environmental impact and based on this you may or may not be eligible to achieve the rating in this year. If you are ineligible to achieve this right away don’t get discouraged, it wouldn’t be ambitious if it was easy.
The Action Plan you will be given will directly mitigate your biggest impact points and by implementing this, you are not only minimizing your operational impact, but also setting yourself up for success in the next year.
In the first year less than 25% of Members were able to achieve this right away and most of these have already worked with Green Fins previously.
But this also means once you achieve the Eco Center you have a rating that is hard to achieve and only members that have earned this will be able to compete with you.
No, but the Green Fins Membership needs to be renewed annually. You will receive emails from the team at Green Fins ahead of this to notify you, so check the email address you listed to make sure you don’t miss it.
You can renew as early as one month ahead of your one-year mark.
After renewing, you will have to complete another self-evaluation and work on your action plan/your community score once more. There is a 60-day grace period to get active after you renew to avoid losing the Eco Center status.
PADI has officially retired the Green Star program. No new applications were accepted in 2023, and special assistance was available to support PADI Green Star Award recipients with working towards PADI Eco Center status. Please reach out to your Regional Manager if you have received the PADI Green Star Award in the past and have not been personally contacted about the opportunity to work toward the PADI Eco Center designation.
For any existing PADI Green Star Award recipients, all efforts involved in achieving this award are recognized through the Green Fins assessment. That means as an existing PADI Green Star Award recipient, you are already well on your way to meeting the criteria for PADI Eco Center.
