Green dreams

With an increasing number of the world's affluent belatedly realising climate change and pollution - and the lifestyles that contribute to those ills - spell impending disaster for us all, it is perhaps prudent for Post Magazine to take a look at the hotels that polled highest in the eco category. As the proprietors of these properties aim to prove, luxury doesn't have to come with too guilty a conscience.

Below are the 10 properties that vied for the Eco Award, which was judged by Holly Tuppen, editor of the Green Hotelier website, Oxfam Global Ambassador Livia Firth and Chris Gorell Barnes, co-founder of marine conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation.

Luxury island resort Six Senses Con Dao is located on one of the world's most beautiful beaches. The hotel will have you nailing down your beach towel: excellent private restaurants, an award-winning spa, tempting aquatic adventures and villas complete with their own pool are all on offer. Six Senses' attention to eco-detail is exemplified in the resort's golf balls: whack a wayward ball into the South China Sea and 48 hours later it biodegrades into fish food. Those same waters are prime habitat for the severely threatened dugong and the resort does all it can to protect the marine mammal, including helping to restore its sea-grass feeding grounds. The hotel sells its own mineral water, with proceeds going towards implementing clean-water systems for the island. It's also working towards zero-waste sustainability - a pretty impressive feat for a hotel 185km from the Vietnamese mainland.