Green Globe is based upon the Agenda 21 Plan which was originally endorsed by 182 heads of state at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 and provided a set of principles for local, state, national and international action on sustainable development. This resulted in Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry: Towards Environmentally Sustainable Development , which listed an action plan for a number of overall objectives for the industry.

The overall plan aimed to convert the objectives into specific targets, and named ten areas in which travel and tourism operations could take action, including:

• Waste minimisation, reuse, recycling;
• Energy efficiency, conservation, management;
• Management of freshwater resources;
• Waste water management;
• Hazardous substances;
• Transport;
• Land-use planning and management;
• Involvement of staff, customers, communities in environmental issues;
• Design for sustainability; and
• Partnerships for sustainable development

In 1994 [2] , The World Travel and Tourism Council ( WTTC ) initiated the Green Globe Programme with the aim of providing guidance materials and support for industry members undertaking activities to achieve sustainability outcomes in the Agenda 21 target areas.

The programme was expanded in 1999 with the introduction of the Green Globe Standard and commencement of independent auditing. The Green Globe programme was further updated in May 2001 as part of continuous reflection of its market focus, and now includes four Standards based upon actual measurement of environmental improvements by using the Earthcheck system for Benchmarking on an annual basis.