The Carbon Free Group was commissioned in 2016 to undertake a strategic overview of carbon and energy management for the Obonjan Project in Croatia as part of a sustainable tourism initiative. Obonjan is a small Adriatic island 6 km off the mainland adjacent to the coastal city of Sibenik.
The study calculated the carbon footprint for various scales of development and considered a range of options as to how the island could meet its energy requirement through generating its needs on-island. It identified showcase projects to illustrate the potential in an island setting and how this could feed into a wider circular economy strategy in partnership with the local government, NGOs and small business community. The study also led the Project to focus on various innovative ways in which it could engage with its visitors to offset their carbon footprints created by international travel by the behavioural change initiatives that they could adopt in their work and domestic activities back in their countries of origin.