The SustainAble route · GSTC-recognized
GSTC tells you the standard. SustainAble gives you the system to meet it — twelve to eighteen months from baseline to GSTC-Recognized certification, with a platform, a peer cohort, and an expert in your corner the whole way.
Why this exists
GME’s founder, Cristina Calvo, founded Asuaire in Costa Rica in 1998 and ran it for about twenty-five years — building one of the country’s most sustainable tour operators. SustainAble is the methodology she built there, now productized so any operator can follow it.
The journey
One route, eighteen months at the outside. Each phase builds on the last; nothing is busywork. Click any phase to explore.
An ESG assessment, a carbon baseline, and a prioritized action plan — the honest map of where you stand and the gaps ahead.
Standards & recognition
Not a badge we made up. The route is built on the frameworks the industry already trusts.
SustainAble is GSTC-Recognized, audited by the GSTC Assurance Panel. The route ends in GSTC-Recognized certification via a third-party audit — the standard the whole industry is measured against.
Every course is IACET-certified with lifetime access, bilingual EN/ES. Three courses in the Launchpad; the full catalog in the Cohort.
For operators reporting to institutional investors — the outputs map to GRI disclosure frameworks (useful under CSRD and similar).
Two ways to start
One diagnoses where you stand. The other takes you all the way to certified. Start with either.
The first step
Sustainability Launchpad
For operators not sure where they stand. A GSTC-based baseline and a roadmap, fast.
Rolls into the Cohort if you continue within 30 days.
The full route · FOUNDING COHORT
SustainAble Cohort
For operators committed to the full route — from baseline to recognized certification.
12–18 months · up to 50 operators · bring 10 teammates.
Not sure which fits?
Answer five questions and we’ll point you to the right on-ramp — Launchpad or Cohort.
The traditional alternative
The usual path to GSTC certification means stitching together independent consultants, scattered courses, and an audit you prep for alone — over years.
Prep the traditional way
$12k–40k
Prep with the SustainAble Cohort
$6,500
The external GSTC audit (~$8,000–9,000, paid to the certifying body) is separate and applies to either path — it isn’t part of this comparison.
Proof in the field
Across the operators GME has worked with — the proof the methodology holds up where it matters.
We replaced the binder. The crew now knows the answers because the answers came from the crew.
trees that never got cut — a 50-year network redesigning its events
Read the story
We expected zero revenue in 2020. The virtual program kept our guides paid until tours came back.
Questions
The route-level questions. Program specifics live on the Launchpad and Cohort pages.
No — SustainAble is the route: the methodology, the platform, and the support that take you from baseline to certified. The destination is a GSTC-Recognized certification via a third-party audit — not something GME issues. The audit fee is external and paid to the certifying body.
No. The Launchpad is built for operators that don’t have one — a baseline, a plan, and an expert debrief. The Cohort then helps you build the routine without hiring a full-time team.
Twelve to eighteen months from baseline to certification (median around fourteen), depending on your starting point and pace.
The Cohort includes the discovery audit, the action plan, training, the platform, a mock audit, and first-year certification maintenance. The third-party audit fee is not included — it’s paid directly to the certifying body.
Yes. The Launchpad (US$1,750) is the on-ramp — and its fee credits in full to the Cohort if you join within 30 days.
Your move