September 27th marks World Tourism Day. As we recognize the important role of tourism within the international community, we want to raise awareness on the responsibility hospitality has in achieving global sustainability goals. Accounting for around 1% of global carbon emissions and set to increase, hospitality has an opportunity to manage its impact and help our planet. The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance estimates the industry needs to reduce its carbon emissions by a whopping 90 per cent per room by 2050 just to ensure that future industry growth does not lead to a corresponding increase in carbon emissions.
HVAC and lighting are responsible for up to 45 per cent of a hotel’s energy usage, and offer the largest areas for improvements and savings. Tracking your property’s energy and water can identify inefficiencies, prioritize opportunities and increase ROI accuracy. Tracking your utility usage will also help you set measurable targets, complete corporate reporting and answer corporate RFPs.
Easier than you think
Your hotel can start tracking today. Here are some easy options to get you on the right track:
- Hotel Footprinting Tool is a free indexing tool that uses real data supplied by the industry to estimate the carbon footprint of hotel room nights and meeting spaces across the world.
- The Greenview Portal offers an off-the-shelf solution for hotels to collect sustainability data, track performance and progress over time, report activities in a transparent way, and ultimately improve their sustainability performance.