MALLORCA, Spain - Arabella Golf Resort Mallorca has introduced a new suite of eco-friendly initiatives as part of its three-year Environmental Strategic Plan, marking another step forward in its pledge to achieve full climate neutrality by 2050.
As the largest golf resort in the Balearic Islands—spanning 63 holes across four courses alongside two five-star properties, Castillo Hotel Son Vida and Sheraton Mallorca Arabella Golf Hotel—the complex is combining high-tech turf maintenance, farm-to-table circular economy models, and facility electrification to shrink its environmental footprint.
At Golf Son Muntaner—a European Tour Destination venue that previously hosted the 2022 Mallorca Golf Open and 2023 Mallorca Ladies Golf Open—maintenance operations have undergone a technological upgrade.
The venue deployed two GPS-guided autonomous mowers featuring millimetre-precision navigation across its fairways. Operating with alternating patterns to encourage uniform turf growth, these dual robotic units optimise fuel efficiency while eliminating mowing overlap. Because the mowers operate quietly overnight, course managers can guarantee pristine playing conditions during daytime peak hours without disrupting golfers.
Building on its established "Cercle" wine initiative, the resort introduced the "Circular Orange" project. Developed in partnership with environmental services firms Tirme and Fruita Bona under the FINHAVA programme, the closed-loop initiative converts organic food waste from hotel facilities into high-grade compost.
This natural fertilizer directly nourishes 1,500 local Mallorcan orange trees, which in turn supply fresh organic juice back to resort guest tables. During a three-month pilot phase:
The Sheraton Mallorca Arabella Golf Hotel is entering the final stage of achieving verified carbon-neutral status. The property implemented facility electrification, renewable energy integration, and hotel-wide energy efficiency standards.
To offset baseline operational emissions from 2023–2024, the hotel partnered with environmental organisation Bosques Sostenibles on the Villaoril Project in mainland Spain. The program funded the planting of 341 native trees across deforested land, which will capture approximately 66 tonnes of atmospheric CO₂ as they mature over the coming decades.
These projects support interim carbon-reduction goals established by the resort: a 12% decrease in golf operation emissions by 2028 and a 15% reduction across hotel properties by 2029.
"Introducing these three new initiatives is a crucial step forward as we work towards our interim carbon reduction targets on the journey to our long-term goal of climate neutrality by 2050," said Sandra Benbeniste, Sustainability Manager at Arabella Golf Resort Mallorca.
"These new projects build on our wider environmental strategy—from operating on 100% renewable electricity with on-site solar panels, a fleet of electric buggies, and zero-emission guest shuttles, to safeguarding local water resources by irrigating our courses with reclaimed wastewater."
The resort’s environmental stewardship earned it the Circular Economy Award 2026, presented by the Confederation of Business Associations of the Balearic Islands (CAEB).
All three 18-hole courses at the resort hold GEO Certified® status—making them the only golf courses in Mallorca with this accreditation—alongside international EMAS auditing and ISO 14001 certifications. Both luxury hotels also hold Green Key eco-label seals.
"Our vision is to demonstrate that luxury hospitality and environmental stewardship can seamlessly co-exist," added Francisco Vila, CEO of Arabella Hospitality España. "Every sustainability measure we introduce delivers a direct, tangible benefit to our guests—whether that is playing on tournament-quality turf nurtured by 100% reclaimed water, or enjoying zero-kilometre gastronomy grown using our own circular organic compost."
For more details on the resort's environmental programs, visit arabellagolfresortmallorca.com.
