"It's sad" - Michelin to scrap sustainable Green Star award - with all restaurants to lose Stars this year
The prestigious Guide will get rid of its Green Star awards this year.
First revealed in 2020, the Michelin Green Star was introduced by the prestigious Guide to celebrate and honour those restaurants that are “at the forefront of the industry when it comes to their sustainable practices.”
The Guide explained that these restaurants: “hold themselves accountable for both their ethical and environmental standards, and work with sustainable producers and suppliers to avoid waste and reduce or even remove plastic and other non-recyclable materials from their supply chain.
“These restaurants offer dining experiences that combine culinary excellence with outstanding eco-friendly commitments and are a source of inspiration both for keen foodies and the hospitality industry as a whole.”
But now, six years on and having just awarded seven new Green Stars at the Michelin Guide ceremony in Dublin in February, the team behind the Guide have announced that they are “coming to an end.”
Inver, located on the banks of Loch Fyne was the first Scottish restaurant to receive a Green Star in 2021. It remained that way until this year when Timberyard in Edinburgh and The Free Company in Balerno were awarded Green Stars.
Charlie Buchanan-Smith, head chef at The Free Company said: “Getting awarded a Green Star earlier this year was amazing. (Michelin) is the highest possible award in gastronomy and getting recognised for sustainability is amazing and we were absolutely thrilled.
“It’s sad that they’ve decided to scrap the Green Stars and that people can no longer advertise that they’ve won or hold a Green Star by the end of this year. We’re pretty gutted about that and hope that what it’s replaced with is adequate.
“It’s a shame that in 2026 at a time where I’d love for our biggest organisations and award bodies in gastronomy to really go further, double down and champion sustainability.
“The sustainable places, in my view, are the sorts of places where their stories need to be told so that these places can tell their guests how they’re producing food and why it’s important. It sets a standard for the way food should be produced and how animals should be looked after and how you can create a circular economy in a restaurant.
“Michelin carry so much weight and the Green Star did carry a fair bit of kudos and it was amazing to have that. Hopefully in time they will come up with something that is championing sustainable restaurants and businesses and I hope that they do go further and deeper and create something with more rigour, much like an organic certification, which we go through and is a rigorous process.
“We will be sad that we won’t be able to tell people that we have a Michelin Green Star but we’re not going to stop being a sustainable restaurant and farm. We’ll keep going.”
Mr Buchanan-Smith said that the Star did attract new guests who follow and travel for the Michelin Guide but what was lovely was the reaction from regular customers. He explained: “Our really loyal customers were so happy for us and it was really nice to see how proud they were to see the restaurant they’ve been coming to for years gain that accolade.”
While there is “no specific formula” for awarding a Michelin Green Star, the team at Michelin said that inspectors are looking for those at the top of their game when it comes to their sustainable practices.
This could be the provenance of ingredients; use of seasonal produce; environmental footprint; food waste approach and general waste disposal; resource management and the communication to the guests about the sustainability practises.
By the end of this year all Green Star awards will be lost. There has been no reason given, with 37 restaurants set to lose their Green Star. Instead there will be a focus from Michelin on a new initiative, Mindful Voices.
Mindful Voices, the team said, will highlight and share the stories and pioneering practices of chefs, hoteliers and wine producers, in line with Michelin’s recent move into the world of hospitality and wine.
Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guides said: “Mindful Voices will give a platform to all those who are rewriting the rules in their respective fields.
“This new framework draws directly from what our inspection teams witness first-hand: encounters and experiences that are transforming how things are done and that deserve to be shared.
“Staying true to its identity and values, the Michelin Guide will amplify and give full resonance to these voices from the worlds of gastronomy, hospitality and wine, so that they can be heard, wherever they may be”.
A spokesperson for the Michelin Guide said: “The Michelin Guide wishes to reaffirm clearly its commitment to a more responsible approach to gastronomy. The Guide’s ambition is evolving towards a broader and more universal expression, one that now encompasses our three pillars of excellence: gastronomy, hospitality and wine.
“In the context of a strong international expansion to more than 60 destinations, the introduction of Mindful Voices should not be seen as a step backwards, but rather as a progression designed to reinforce this commitment.”
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