This past week Marriott International released its 2023 Serve 360 Report highlighting the company’s progress on its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts. The complete name of Marriott’s sustainability and social impact platform is Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction. Marriott’s Serve 360 platform was launched in 2017 in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
What Marriott does or does not do can be very impactful given its size. At the end of 2022, the company had 8,288 properties—more than 1.5 million rooms in 138 countries and territories. At that same time, Marriott managed the employment of approximately 377,000 associates. It would take more than this space allows to summarize all the things Marriott is doing so I will limit this column to the company’s activities in the energy, water, waste, and building areas.
2050 Emissions Goal
Marriott’s climate action efforts include committing to set a near-term science-based emissions reduction target (SBT) and set a long-term science-based target to reach net-zero value chain GHG emissions by no later than 2050. As part of Marriott’s Serve 360 Goals, it aims to reduce carbon emissions per square meter of conditioned space by 30 percent from a 2016 baseline. As of the end of 2022, it had reduced carbon emissions per square meter of conditioned space by 24.6 percent.
In 2022, numerous Marriott managed hotels across the globe implemented energy efficiency projects, saving approximately 45,000 MWhs of energy.
As part of Marriott’s Serve 360 Goals, the company aims to source a minimum of 30 percent of its overall electricity from renewable energy by year-end 2025. Last year it sourced 2.1 percent of electricity from renewable energy.
As of year-end 2022, over 5,500 EV chargers have been installed at Marriott properties worldwide, including nearly 1,700 level 3 fast chargers. Marriott is also exploring electric options for the vehicles the company operates and has placed orders for a limited number of EVs.
Water Reduction Target
As part of Marriott’s Serve 360 Goals, the company aims to reduce water consumption per occupied room by 15 percent from a 2016 baseline by year-end 2025. As of the end of 2022, it had achieved a reduction of 6.3 percent per occupied room.
Throughout 2022, Marriott expanded the company’s water monitoring capabilities and significantly increased data compliance requirements with the Marriott Environmental Sustainability Hub (MESH).
Amenity & Food Waste & More
Marriott continues to execute on the first phase of the company’s Residential-Sized Bath Amenities Program, switching from small toiletry bottles to larger pump-topped bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body gel. As of year-end 2022, approximately 90 percent of Marriott’s premium and select brands had implemented residential amenities. While Marriott continues to face supply chain challenges, the company plans to execute on this effort and expects most Marriott’s brands to complete the switch in 2023.
As part of Marriott’s Serve 360 Goals, the company aims to reduce waste-to-landfill by 45 percent and food waste by 50 percent from a 2016 baseline by year-end 2025.
In 2023, Marriott launched a global Food Waste Reduction Rally to encourage hotels to implement and share food waste reduction practices and data.
In 2022, Marriott achieved its goal to have a Serve 360 section on hotels’ marriott.com websites with hotel impact metrics. The new section on individual hotel websites provides information such as third-party sustainability certifications, carbon, and water footprint data, and select environmental practices, including EV charging capabilities and guestroom recycling availability. As of year-end 2022, 86 percent of Marriott properties had at least one sustainability attribute on their website.
Emphasis on Certification
As part of Marriott’s Serve 360 Goals, the company aims to have 100 percent of properties certified to a recognized sustainability standard and 650 LEED, BREEAM, or Estidama registered or certified hotels in the company’s portfolio by year-end 2025. As of year-end 2022, Marriott had achieved the following progress: 28.8 percent of hotels certified to a recognized sustainability standard, and 267 certified or registered LEED, BREEAM, or Estidama hotels.
As part of Marriott’s Serve 360 Goals, the company aims to collaborate with owners to develop 250 adaptive reuse projects, with the intention of reusing existing buildings and sites by year-end 2025. As of year-end 2022, Marriott had made the following progress: 223 open adaptive reuse projects, and 116 adaptive reuse projects in the pipeline.
Marriott’s headquarters campus (Bethesda, Md.) achieved Fitwel 3-star certification, which focuses on incorporating wellness aspects into the workplace for overall associate well-being.
Please visit Marriott’s 2023 Serve 360 Report for updates in areas including biodiversity, responsible and local sourcing, diversity, equity and inclusion, community impact, and much more.
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