As the nation’s first Destination Stewardship Organization, located in the most sustainable wine region in the world, Sonoma County Tourism strives to create and adopt best practices aimed at protecting and preserving our destination for generations to come.
Sonoma County Tourism is committed to working with you to help develop sustainable practices, as well as help identify and promote responsible practices you are already engaged in.
To see how Sonoma County Tourism promotes Sonoma County as a sustainable destination, we encourage you to visit sonomacounty.com/sustainable and help share Sonoma County’s proud history as pioneers in sustainability and climate action.
Below you will find information on programs offered through Sonoma County Tourism and other providers. Hospitality partners that join the Sonoma County Leave No Trace Coalition, Rewards For Rubbish program, The Kind Traveler platform (or its Every Stay Gives Back initiative), or become certified through the California Green Business Network or Green Destination’s Good Travel Program, will qualify to have the relevant icon added to the partner’s business listing on sonomacounty.com. Think of the icons as merit badges showing potential customers your commitment to sustainability. Simply email [email protected] with proof of your compliance to have the relevant icon added to your listing.
Sustainability Surveys
Please help us identify sustainable practices your business is engaged in by taking one of the following surveys.
Sustainability Certification Providers
California Green Business Network
The Sonoma County Green Business Program is part of the statewide California Green Business Network, whose mission is to assist businesses to operate sustainably as well as profitably. The program provides no-cost technical assistance, including energy and water assessments, to small and medium sized businesses that are pursuing certification as a Green Business.
The Sonoma County Green Business Program currently has rebates of up to $500* that can be used for costs associated with any measure on the Green Business certification checklist. In addition, business owners who self-identify as LGBTQIA or Black, Brown, Indigenous, Persons of Color (BBIPOC), or are worker-owned cooperatives can receive another $500*, for a total of $1,000*.
*For a limited time through November 30, 2023, businesses that complete their certification may be eligible for double the rebate.
To learn more visit the website at sonomacounty.ca.gov/green-business, or contact the Climate Action and Resiliency Division of Sonoma County at (707) 565-6470 or email to [email protected].
The Good Travel Program is an initiative of Green Destinations, an organization Sonoma County Tourism is working with to attain destination certification. The Good Travel Program evaluates and certifies sustainable practices while providing support and guidance to help businesses implement effective strategies. All types of companies, from large to very small, are eligible for the program, including hotels, conference centers, B&Bs, camp sites, restaurants, activity providers, shops, visitor centers, and more.
To learn more about the Good Travel Program, visit greendestinations.org/good-travel-seal.
Sonoma County Tourism Programs
Sonoma County Leave No Trace Coalition
Join the Sonoma County Leave No Trace Coalition, an award-winning initiative launched in 2021 by Sonoma County Tourism, Sonoma County Regional Parks, and the national Leave No Trace organization, to help mitigate environmental impacts in area parks, preserves, and other outdoor recreation locations.
Visiting the coalition toolkit page will guide you to our online training modules; provide links to order free LNT window clings, posters, tent cards, and pamphlets; and unlock access to digital assets like photos, videos, and guides.
Associating your business with Leave No Trace is an easy way to emphasize to customers your commitment to protecting the natural environment.
Sonoma County Tourism offers its hospitality partners access to a free program called Rewards For Rubbish, which incentivizes volunteers to collect litter in exchange for treats and prizes. Participating businesses display a poster promoting the program, and when customers ask to take part, the businesses direct volunteers to sign an e-waiver on sonomacounty.com before issuing volunteers a trash bag and gloves. Volunteers then pick up trash, returning the bags to the businesses in exchange for a small reward. Sonoma County Tourism covers the entire costs of the program, providing all supplies and rewards.
Businesses interested in adopting the Rewards For Rubbish program are welcome to email [email protected] for more information.
Sonoma County Tourism formed Sonoma County Tourism Cares in 2017 to provide the local tourism and hospitality industries opportunities to give back to the community through participation in volunteer activities and donation drives. Sonoma County Tourism has carried out over 30 Sonoma County Tourism Cares events helping to highlight just how much the Sonoma County tourism industry cares.
If you or your staff are interested in participating in a future Sonoma County Tourism Cares event, you are encouraged to email [email protected] to express your interest.
Additional Programs
In 2019, Sonoma County Tourism became the first Destination Marketing Organization (now Destination Stewardship Organization) to join Kind Traveler–the first socially conscious “Give and Get” hotel booking platform. This partnership enables participating hotels in the county to prioritize community impact by sharing exclusive offers on KindTraveler.com to incentivize visitors to give back to selected charities.
Kind Traveler has also expanded its reach with a community impact certification called Every Stay Gives Back, which provides a formalized giving program for hotels to automatically harness donations with every guest stay to local Sonoma County charities, regardless of where the booking originated.
Lodging partners that enroll in this program are provided with a custom microsite on Kind Traveler’s Every Stay Gives Back Directory, a handmade wooden plaque with a QR code to easily communicate community impact efforts, and an annual public impact report with corresponding communication toolkits. Kind Traveler provides third-party validation of monthly donations to local nonprofits; 100% of donations go to charities.
If you manage a lodging property and are interested in learning more about the Kind Traveler platform or its Every Stay Gives Back program, we encourage you to reach out to [email protected].
The Russian River Confluence is a collaboration of partners engaged in the health and resiliency of the Russian River watershed and the communities that depend on it. Sonoma County Tourism’s involvement with the Russian River Confluence is as a supporting stakeholder in the Confluence's Russian River Revitalization Project. The project consists of a “Keep Tahoe Blue”-esque brand called “Respect Russian River” which exists to better communicate regional pride and further solutions to address environmental challenges threatening the Russian River.
Click here to watch a video about the Respect Russian River initiative.
Local businesses are encouraged to help promote and support the Respect Russian River initiative by selling Respect Russian River merchandise. For information on the retail program, visit russianriverconfluence.org/take-action-businesses.
Sonoma, Mendocino, and Marin Counties have partnered with Leave No Trace to launch a coordinated campaign to provide visitor education to reduce negative impacts to coastal environments and communities across the three counties. This effort complements the Sonoma County Leave No Trace Coalition which applies similar messaging throughout the entirety of Sonoma County.
By communicating uniform messaging along the Northern California coastline, the three counties reduce competing messaging -- which can obscure clarity for visitors -- and greatly increase the likelihood of visitors being exposed to these important principles.
Businesses along the coast are encouraged to help share this messaging. You can learn more at cleanercoast.org.
Recommended Reading and Resources
Sonoma Clean Power + EverGreen
Power your business with 100% renewable energy. Sonoma Clean Power is the only utility in California to offer the option of 100% renewable, locally generated energy 24/7. Using solar during the day and geothermal when the sun goes down, EverGreen provides renewable energy every day of the year. Choosing EverGreen is one of the biggest climate actions you can take. EverGreen eliminates nearly all the greenhouse gas emissions from your electricity use. That’s an incredible talking point to be able to communicate to your customers.
To learn more about making the switch to renewable energy, visit sonomacleanpower.org/programs/evergreen.
The Hotel Sustainability Basics were developed by the World Travel & Tourism Council with the input of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and a group of hotel companies. Lodging properties can utilize the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s free suite of tools including its Hotel Waste Measurement Methodology, Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative, and Hotel Water Measurement Initiative to establish a baseline against the “12 basic criteria” of the Hotel Sustainability Basics to determine actions that be taken to become more sustainable.
The Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index
The Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index (CHSB) is an industry-led global data initiative, started in 2013 to enable any hotel to calculate its carbon footprint and benchmark its energy, water and carbon emissions at low cost, drawing from a dataset of over 25,000 hotels around the world. Participants in the CHSB index include major hotel brands, operators and owners, representing a total of 646 geographies. Participants receive confidential, bespoke energy, carbon, water and HCMI benchmarking reports. CHSB also supplies data to the Greenview Hotel Footprinting Tool to estimate the carbon footprint of a single or for multiple hotel room nights and meeting spaces across the world.
