An initiative to create a single common and globally recognised definition for hotel sustainability has been launched to establish the industry’s position on the issue and promote sustainable travel and tourism.
The effort, spearheaded by the World Travel and Tourism Council and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance will also include input from more than 25,000 individual properties around the world, leading hotel groups and key stakeholders and aims to see the industry align with targets set during the COP21 Paris Accord in 2015.
In line with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s ‘Pathway to Net Positive’, a Basic Sustainability Framework will be devised to enable every hotel worldwide to improve their environmental impact, regardless of their starting point. The Framework will consist of four clear stages, each featuring a variety of useful tools and best practice benchmarks to gradually guide the industry towards having a regenerative impact on the planet.
The framework will aim to appeal to hotels of all sizes, regardless of whether they operate independently or are aligned with a management network and provide a common understanding and list of actions that will drive real change and stimulate further demand for sustainable travel.
Hotel groups already signed up include Accor, Barceló Hotel Group, Indian Hotels Company, Deutsche Hospitality, Melia Hotels International, Minor Hotels and Jin Jiang International Holdings, owners of the Radisson Hotel Group. These and many other groups have already introduced a variety of sustainability efforts in day-to-day operations which continue to be implemented across their global networks.
More global groups are expected to sign on during the initial development stages.
Accor Chairman and CEO, Sébastien Bazin, said the company is “actively working towards achieving carbon neutrality in line with its science-based targets”.
“We welcome the Basic Sustainability Framework initiative. We believe that this framework is a useful step towards ambitious sustainable goals and practices for the hospitality industry.”
“After the pandemic, we are pleased to see that the hotel sector is taking a coordinated and non-competitive way forward to facilitate a true and effective response to the climate change challenge we face,” said Radisson Hotel Group CEO, Federico González.
“The Basic Sustainability Framework is a step-change that will help every hotel to get started on their sustainability journey faster. This will move us at Radisson Hotel Group, together with our owners Jin Jiang International, and the whole industry closer towards the ultimate target of Net Zero and, at the same time respond to our clients’ demand for sustainable travel options that are easy to understand.”
Development on the Basic Sustainability Framework has begun and will see a draft launched in March 2022.