Sustainability at Six Senses Douro Valley
Located in the UNESCO Douro Wine Region, Six Senses Douro Valley manages its forest and historic gardens while monitoring local biodiversity and supporting conservation projects with local partners. We track energy and water use, reduce waste, and source locally. You can join us at our Earth Lab to learn about the projects supported by our Regenerative Impact Fund and the partners involved, and also take part in workshops exploring conservation and local traditions.
Environmental Responsibility
Our environmental work focuses on measurable areas of our resort operations, including energy use, waste, water, and biodiversity. Below are some of the projects we support and results we track.
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Donkey Conservation
APEGA, the Associação para o Estudo e Proteção do Gado Asinino, is an NGO dedicated to the conservation and care of the Miranda donkey; a native Portuguese donkey breed classified as endangered. Thanks to over two decades of committed work, APEGA reports the population has now grown to around 1,500 animals across Portugal as of 2025. In 2025, our funding contributed to veterinary care, shelter, and improved welfare of 650 donkeys, in addition to education and outreach delivered by APEGA reaching 489 people.
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River, Forest and Historic Gardens
In addition to our own historic gardens and neighboring forest, we’ve adopted a 1,640-foot (500-meter) stretch of riverbank running parallel to us. With Associação BioLiving, we identified 538 species of fungi, insects, mammals, and birds in our woodland, including 448 native and 34 of high conservation value. There are 125 ancient “Green Giants”, averaging 235 centimeters in trunk circumference, which store more than 900 metric tons of CO₂ (13 captured each year). Our hosts and volunteers continue to care for this land, removing 387 kilograms of trash in 2025.
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Stray Animals
We partner with GPAR, ASPA and Santuário Animal Vida Boa to support management of stray and abandoned cats and dogs across the region. Their work includes veterinary care, sterilization, shelter and responsible-pet-ownership education, alongside awareness initiatives for young people. In 2025, these partnerships helped rescue, treat and care for 981 stray animals while supporting efforts to manage stray populations and address the causes of abandonment.
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Environmental Education and Biodiversity
Our support for Vida Boa Animal Sanctuary in 2025 helped fund Our Wild Fauna, a guide covering 100 species of birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. 500 copies were distributed to schools, associations and institutions, while workshops helped students and families learn more about local wildlife and conservation.
In 2025, we also completed the ‘Eco-citizenship, educate, empower, transform’ project with Bioliving, hosting talks for 446 people from the community, connecting environmental health and wellbeing, workshops and guided birdwatching.
Social Responsibility
The hotel's 'Regenerative Impact Fund' supports projects that promote the well-being and health of the community, local education, and inclusivity across the region, in addition to our environmental projects. Our projects encompass multiple areas of social inclusivity and improve opportunities for both young people and the elderly. We support multiple organizations addressing the following topics.
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Inclusivity in Sport and Recreation
We support Os Afonsinhos Futsal School, O Baguinho and Armamar Futsal Clube to promote education, inclusion and youth participation. In 2025, our support provided 120 recycled-material training kits and over 100 pairs of sports shoes, improved safety at O Baguinho’s educational space, and supported Armamar Futsal Clube’s ‘Sustainable Play’ project with new educational play facilities and a learning centre benefiting almost 100 children.
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Supporting Equal Access to Education
Bagos D'Ouro supports children and young people from low-income backgrounds across the Douro region and has helped more than 200 children since 2010. In 2025, our support for its Learning Recovery Program funded study sessions for 5th and 6th-grade students across six municipalities, alongside reading, online tutoring and volunteering initiatives, as well as home visits to strengthen families’ involvement in education. In total 487 hours of teaching and support was provided.
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Healthcare and Supporting the Elderly
We support Centro Social Paroquial de Cambres, Casa do Povo de Godim and APPACDM Sabrosa across a range of community initiatives. Our support includes transport, occupational therapy, medical, hygiene and food supplies for elderly people, as well as tailored resources for individuals with disabilities. Through artistic workshops in visual arts, music, theatre and dance, we also help foster inclusion, self-esteem and creative expression. In total, 993 individuals gained improved access to healthcare through these projects in 2025.
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Housing and Food Security
We support Just a Change, an organization committed to fixing homes that are in poor condition. Many families still lack essentials like windows, hot water, and electricity. This makes it hard to escape the cycle of poverty. In 2024, we continued our support to rebuild and improve homes. This helped ensure safer and more dignified living conditions for those in need. We also partner with Refood - Vila Real. Their mission is to cut food waste by giving surplus food to vulnerable communities. In 2024, the initiative directly helped 70 families. It provided regular access to nutritious meals through food recovery. This simple, circular solution supports both people and the planet.
