Audubon International adds, recertifies hundreds in 2025

Audubon International added a bevy of new certifications across all of its programs in 2025. Most new certifications were awarded in the golf and lodging categories, and nearly 200 recertifications were awarded to existing partners, some of whom have maintained their certifications dating back to the 1990s.

Programs include Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary (ACSP), ACSP for Golf, Green Hospitality, Signature Sanctuary and Sustainable Communities. Each program provides third-party, on-site verification of vetted, science-supported sustainable practices and benchmarks across all required categories. In the case of golf, that includes Environmental Planning, Wildlife and Habitat Management, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation, Water Quality Management, and Outreach and Education.

“Once again, 2025 was a strong year for new certification growth across our suite of programs,” CEO Christine Kane said. “We continue to see great interest in and pursuit of certification in our Green Lodging/Green Hospitality programs, which reflects the industry’s acknowledgement of sustainable best practices as a business and market response necessity. Audubon International continues to lead the way helping golf courses, resorts, communities and businesses of all kinds invest in a brighter future for the planet.”

The ACSP for Golf continues as the organization’s flagship certification path with nearly 2,000 courses worldwide. New certifications of note in 2025 include Club Campestre Guaymaral in Colombia, RJ National Golf Course in the U.K., Peterborough Golf & Country Club in Ontario, Canada, Old Sandwich and the Kittansett Club in Massachusetts, Sleepy Hollow in New York, Grand Bear in Mississippi and Victory Ranch in Utah.

Audubon International also continues to build on its enhanced Signature Sanctuary Platinum level option for new projects — a comprehensive, overarching path that includes golf, lodging, other buildings and infrastructure. Introduced in 2023, it added several high-profile travel industry leaders to its enrollment numbers in 2024, with Canada’s Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Golf Club leading the way in new certifications.

Meanwhile, newly certified Green Hospitality Partners include such respected properties as Ojai Valley Inn and Marriott’s Canyon Villas at Desert Ridge in California, St. Kitts Marriott & The Royal Beach Casino, and a half-dozen Hyatt Vacation Club destinations from Florida to Colorado and New Mexico.

Each year, Audubon International’s team of Environmental Specialists performs initial site visits at prospective certified properties as well as recertification visits across the country and internationally. They then provide point-by-point feedback based on each venue’s location, resources, budgets and needs, help keep them on track through the process, and sign off on new certifications and recertifications once all criteria are met. Timelines vary but can take up to a year or more. Once certified, each partner has powerful proof of their sustainability efforts to report to members, customers, managers, owners and other stakeholders.