Boutique URBN at forefront of green hospitality in China

Call it sustainably stylish, as Shanghai's eco-friendly URBN foregoes five-star panache for a spare industrial cool. Boxy on the outside – the 26-room boutique hotel was once a post office – the URBN boasts an interior of gleaming steel, rich woods and polished stone.

Certified carbon neutral, the URBN is also the first hotel of its kind in China. Carbon neutrality is achieved by offsetting carbon produced with that either sequestered or prevented from entering the atmosphere, resulting in net zero emissions.

The URBN's carbon neutrality has been verified by South Pole Carbon Asset Management, a Swiss company specializing in emission reduction projects. The hotel calculates its yearly emissions and purchases carbon credits to offset them from South Pole at 25.4 yuan per unit, spending a total of 17,740 yuan in 2009.