It was a big news week this past week with numerous announcements of interest. First, according to Bloomberg, beginning on September 22, Google began labeling hotels as “Eco-Certified” in its global search results, with a leaf-shaped icon next to the hotel’s name. “Clicking on the ‘About’ tab will detail the property’s specific sustainability practices, such as having water use audited by an independent organization or using energy from carbon-free sources,” Bloomberg says.
“The new feature relies on 29 certification programs to do the hard work of establishing a hotel’s green credibility; the property must have an array of sustainability measures audited by third-party experts,” Bloomberg adds. “It’ll be up to hotel staff, rather than the search engine, to update hotel listings, using the free Google My Business Profile.”
I am not going to list the 29 certification programs here but encourage you to read the Bloomberg article for more details.
“The move is intended to offer travelers more transparency against greenwashing, which runs rampant in the hospitality industry,” Bloomberg says. “It also responds to increased search volume around eco-travel buzz words. The term ‘green hotel,’ for instance, has quadrupled in search volume since March 2020, according to Google Trends.”
I did a search on the LEED Platinum The Oberlin Hotel in Oberlin, Ohio and eventually found a green flag but could not find the sustainability practices listed. Type in your green hotel in Google and let me know what you find—if you happen to be part of the 29 certification programs of course.
Marriott, Wynn Set 2050 Goals
Marriott announced that it had set a long-term science-based target to reach net-zero value chain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by no later than 2050, in line with the criteria and recommendations of the Science Based Targets initiative.
In its just released Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, Wynn Resorts announced its goal to reduce or offset all carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by its operations no later than 2050.
Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index
Data from the just released Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking (CHSB) Index shows that the average carbon footprint of a hotel stay decreased by 3 percent between 2018 and 2019, following a decrease of 10 percent between 2015 and 2018.
The report contains data from over 21,000 hotels in 57 countries and 365 cities from the 26 global brands, which participated in the study.
The greatest reduction was evidenced across hotels in the United Arab Emirates whose carbon footprint reduced on average 25.6 percent. Hotels in Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Japan also made significant improvements with a reduction of carbon emissions per square meter of 24.4 percent, 17.8 percent, and 14.6 percent respectively.
Hotels in Uruguay: Lowest Carbon Intensity
Of the countries contained within the index, in 2019, hotels in Uruguay had the lowest carbon intensity (11.1 kg carbon emissions per square meter) whereas those in the Maldives had the highest (238.8 kg/m2). At city level Montevideo’s hotels were the best performing (10.8 kg/m2) while in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the average hotel emitted 221.5 kg emissions per square meter.
Click here to access the article and a link to more information on the Index.
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