LeafMark™: The Human Side of Sustainability

Sustainability in business has too often been reduced to a checklist, recycling bins, LED lighting, low-flow taps… Yet, what truly drives meaningful change isn’t the hardware; it’s the people. That’s the premise behind the Leaf Mark™ Certification, Ireland’s new sustainability accreditation created by Fifty Shades Greener.

Earlier this month, the Mespil Hotel in Dublin became the first organisation in the country to achieve the top-tier ‘Three Leaves’ status under this programme. It’s a milestone worth celebrating, not just for the hotel, but for what it signals about the future of corporate responsibility in Ireland.

A Certification that Starts with People

Unlike traditional environmental certifications that assess systems and infrastructure, the Leaf Mark™ puts people front and centre. It recognises businesses that invest in sustainability education for their teams, embedding knowledge, awareness, and accountability into the fabric of daily operations.

As Fifty Shades Greener founder Raquel Noboa explains, “Sustainability transformation begins with education.” The Leaf Mark™ was designed to measure how deeply sustainability learning has been integrated into a company’s culture, using a three-tier scale — One Leaf, Two Leaves, and Three Leaves — corresponding to the depth and reach of employee training.

This focus on education isn’t symbolic. It’s strategic. Empowering staff to understand why sustainability matters, and how their everyday actions contribute, creates lasting behavioural change that no compliance audit alone can achieve.

Mespil Hotel: From Green Vision to Green Culture

The Mespil Hotel’s sustainability journey exemplifies this transformation. As Assistant HR & Sustainability Manager Jason Conlon recounts in his case study, the hotel’s approach started with small, achievable steps: energy and waste monitoring, improved communication, and a shared vision for greener operations. But the real shift came when the staff themselves became part of the process.

Through Online Green Skills training, employees across departments, from front desk to housekeeping, learned how to make sustainability part of their daily work.

“It’s not just about saving energy or reducing waste,” Conlon notes, “it’s about changing mindsets.”

This people-first approach led the Mespil Hotel to achieve the Three Leaves recognition, the highest possible under the Leaf Mark™ system. Conlon describes it as “a reflection of our commitment to building a culture of sustainability and ensuring every team member has the skills to make a positive environmental impact.”

Beyond Compliance: A Blueprint for a Greener Economy

The Leaf Mark™ arrives at a critical time for Ireland’s hospitality sector, which faces growing pressure to meet environmental targets while maintaining service excellence. What the programme offers is a blueprint for systemic change, one that begins not in the boardroom, but in the staff room.

By linking environmental goals to professional development, the Leaf Mark™ positions sustainability as both an ethical and economic imperative. It rewards organisations that invest in their people, recognising that informed employees are not only more responsible, but also more engaged and innovative.

A New Standard for a New Era

In a landscape crowded with eco-labels, the Leaf Mark™ stands out because it doesn’t just measure impact, it creates it. Its message is simple but profound: when employees understand sustainability, they live it.

As Ireland continues its green transition, the Mespil Hotel’s achievement should inspire other organisations to follow suit. Sustainability isn’t a one-time project or PR statement; it’s a shared learning journey. And thanks to the Leaf Mark™, that journey now has a clear, and human-centred, path forward.

Interested in recognising your own organisation’s sustainability progress?

The Leaf Mark™ Certification is open to any business that has invested in sustainability education for its team — it doesn’t matter who provided the training. What matters is your commitment to building a culture of awareness, skills, and action.

If you’re curious about the criteria or want to explore whether your organisation could achieve One, Two, or Three Leaves, you can learn more here: Leaf Mark™ Certification

💚 FSG Team