Asuaire Travel runs inbound tourism and cruise excursions in Costa Rica with a team of twelve. Their sustainability department isn't on the org chart — it's GME, working turnkey. And what that model sustains goes far beyond certificates.
The challenge
A twelve-person tour operator doesn't have a conviction problem — Asuaire has been carbon neutral since 2013 and a B Corp since 2022. It has a capacity problem.
In 2026 everything arrived at once: the CST Elite recertification, a B Corp recertification under an entirely new standard, the Sello Esencial Costa Rica renewal, and carbon neutrality — which has to be proven to Costa Rica's environment ministry every single year, tonne by tonne. Four standards, four platforms, four different auditors — and a team hired to craft travel experiences, not to produce audit files. The question was never whether Asuaire deserved its credentials. It was who would sustain them — without slowing the operation, and without dimming the impact the company creates in the communities where it works.
The work
GME didn't deliver a consultancy — it took over the function. Asuaire's team contributes the one thing only they have: the records of the real operation and their bond with the communities. GME does everything else.
GME built and maintains Asuaire's sustainability management system: policies, procedures, records, stakeholder map, impact assessments. A single documentary base that feeds every standard, instead of a file improvised before each audit.
97 pieces of evidence compiled, created, and uploaded to the ICT's platform. Audit, corrective actions, and recertification confirmed in May 2026 — once again at Elite, the standard's highest category.
Because it's harmonized with CST, the renewal ran in parallel on the same file. Approved without duplicating a single piece of evidence.
2024 GHG inventory under INTE ISO 14064-1 and INTE B5: 148.37 t CO₂e measured, 10.7 t reduced — the largest reduction any Asuaire project has achieved — and 144 t offset. Carbon Neutral certificate signed by Costa Rica's Minister of Environment and Energy in December 2025.
GME mapped the 97 CST evidences against B Lab's new standard, adapted the partial matches, built the missing ones from scratch, and uploaded the complete file. It is now under B Lab review.
Monthly progress report, monthly decision meeting, WhatsApp follow-up in between. The system lives all year — not just the month before the audit.
Working with Green My Experience was a game-changer for our sustainability efforts. Their expertise and guidance helped us not only meet our goals, but exceed them.
María Arias Arias · General Manager
The impact behind the file
Every piece of evidence in the system documents something that already existed: a company that gives back to the places that make it possible. Asuaire's community alliances are the part of the story no auditor can ask for — and the reason the credentials mean something.
Fundación Corcovado. Asuaire's contribution backs the Education for Sustainable Development program: 176 children across 7 schools and 104 workshops in 4 communities, learning about water, energy, waste, and sustainable farming — the next generation of forest guardians.
Fundación Un Puerto Limpio. In Puntarenas, Asuaire's contribution helped the foundation achieve its legal incorporation — the step that lets it grow. Together they add up beach clean-ups, sea-turtle releases at the Parque Marino del Pacífico, coastal reforestation, and the Mangrove Nursery project restoring the ecosystem that surrounds the city.
Women artisans of Bajo Chirripó. Direct financial support to an association of women from the Cabécar indigenous people, invested in materials and tools so their mastate craftwork becomes economic autonomy for them and their families.
The outcome
A year that could have been all emergencies became the strongest in Asuaire's track record — without hiring anyone.
The outcome that doesn't fit in a table: renewal stopped being an emergency, and sustainability stopped competing with the operation. Asuaire's certifications don't depend on one passionate person or a pre-audit sprint — they depend on a system someone operates every month, leaving the team free to do what it does best: create experiences that give something back to Costa Rica.
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