What strategies can hotels use to speed up their sustainability journey?

As COP 27 draws to a close, environmental risks dominate the headlines and climate-change-related risks account for three of the top risks by severity in the next 10 years. Heating is supercharging extreme weather and human-caused climate emergencies are accelerating in a divided world. At this most urgent of times, a sustainability action plan and strategy are something every business needs, complete with a timeline aligned with each country’s carbon law to be effective, trustworthy and gain stakeholder support. The word sustainability was coined in the 1987 Bruntland Report which cited critical global environmental problems and called for a strategy that brought development and the environment together. Today, sustainability is about four key things: taking responsibility for total impacts on communities and the environment; supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); accelerating to Climate Positive and aiming to achieve a just and regenerative future. Thirty-five years ago, the UK government set in law the world’s most ambitious climate change target, to cut GHG emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. In 2021, the Final Warning Bell Report, published by the Climate Crisis Advisory Group (CCAG) which consists of leading authorities in climate science, warned that Net Negative (also known as Climate Positive or Carbon Negative) strategies were urgently required. It explained that Net Zero was ‘too little too late’ and there was no carbon budget left to spend. Global temperatures would exceed 1.5°C as soon as 2030, taking the world into a zone of dangerous climate change. The April 2022 UN Climate Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was written by hundreds of leading scientists and agreed by 195 countries. It provided the scientific proof that to limit a rise in global warming to 1.5°C or even 2°C, as agreed by all countries that signed the Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) must peak before 2025 and be reduced by 43% (including methane by a third) by 2030. It is now also inevitable that we will reach and surpass 1.5C this decade, the red line on climate breakdown when destruction in nature becomes irreversible. The climate will only stabilize when we reach zero GHG. Business needs a big shift in attitude and behaviour to move beyond greenwashing and small-scale actions, to treat the climate crisis as a crisis, achieve Climate Positive and give back more to the world than we take. A company that integrates environmental aspects into its business and operations vision saves costs and deepens the brand’s connection with customers and/or guests, for whom the environment is also important. This deeper connection requires efficient and credible transparent communication. Sustainability with an independent audit is a tool to show more responsibility, improve a company’s overall culture, financial health, internal policing and deliver the shared values that most customers and employees want today. Key strategies to speed up your sustainability journey: Partner Smartly Choose reputable and qualified partners with shared values and sustainability credentials, innovative technologies and support to make it easier to implement a Sustainability Action Plan and be accountable and transparent. Commit Seriously Commitment from bottom up and top down is vital. Ensure buy-in from employees, management and owners. Engage all employees in the company’s day-to-day sustainability activities by defining the company’s long-term purpose, explain the economic case for sustainability, build capacity through training, knowledge and competence to make every employee a sustainability champion, and make sustainability visible, accountable and transparent inside and outside the company. One way of doing this is to make sustainability actions, support of UN SDGs and reduction of the organisation’s carbon footprint part of the obligations and objectives section of everyone’s Employment Agreement. Be Accountable The world is scrutinising, with increasing urgency, the way the industry monitors and reports on its sustainability performance. Credible measurement and reporting are essential to be accountable and demonstrate year-on-year improvement. It’s important to use a science-based approach, to help increase efficiencies, maximise guest experiences and minimise environmental footprints. EarthCheck is the world’s leading certification, consultancy and advisory group for sustainable hotels and tourism facilities and destinations with more than 30 years of experience. It is the chosen sustainability program for independent hotels and hotel groups including Peninsula, Langham, Banyan Tree, Marriot, Kempinski, LVMH properties, Taj Hotels, Palaces and Resorts and more. Build Capacity Provide training for a sustainability coordinator and team, aiming to train at least 30 persons per year to build capacity. Action An Energy Transition Strategy Measure Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions, the carbon footprint of your business. Reduce carbon emissions to the maximum. Offset with Carbon Offset Projects that provide high-quality, certified carbon credits that support SDGs. View examples HERE. Communicate with transparency and engage all stakeholders. SUPPORT the UN SDGs TANGIBLY Tangibly support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the property, in collaboration with the community and in carbon offset projects. The UN SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals designed to be a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future". Communicate With Transparency Transparency is crucial to build trust, engage the support of all stakeholders (owners and employees, guests, suppliers, media), and avoid any accusations of greenwashing. A hotel company that makes a public document accessible to its guests and stakeholders is a good step ahead. For a hotel it is an extraordinary achievement to collect, calculate and published data based on correct facts and a solid method. Use innovative technology tools that clearly communicate all sustainability actions - how your property is a force for good, what’s good inside, what’s good outside, track SDGs and its tangible contribution to people and planet on property and in communities, and track carbon, energy, water and waste footprint. Update annually with measurement details in Sustainability Report submitted to Independent Auditor. View Whatley Manor, a leader in sustainability and how they communicate with accountability and transparency. Avoid Greenwashing and Creative Hype Stakeholders (employees and owners/investor, customers and guests, suppliers, media and influencers) are ever more conscious, with their radar for greenwash firmly switched on. Be honest and communicate sustainability clearly so it is easy for all stakeholders to understand. Avoid the hype. Do not claim to be sustainable or claim to help save the planet unless you can show actions that take responsibility for total impacts with accountability and transparency… and it has been independently audited. About the author: Onno Poortier is an experienced hotelier with over 50 years of experience and is the chairman and CEO of It Must Be NOW, a leadership platform and facilitator that exists to help hospitality companies, tourism facilities and educational establishments to advance sustainability and achieve Climate Positive with accountability and transparency.