BERNE, SWITZERLAND—Neustark is the first company in the world to have developed and rolled out a solution that mineralizes CO₂ in demolition concrete. Thanks to this groundbreaking technology, the CO₂ is permanently stored and thus removed from the atmosphere. The Swiss climate-tech company has now joined forces with Berlin-based construction and recycling company Heim to open the first commercial site for permanent CO₂ storage in Germany—and thus in the EU. Located in Berlin, the site has the capacity to permanently store over 1,000 tons of CO₂ per year. The CO₂ is captured at biogas plants. And since the CO₂ stored is biogenic, the neustark...

WALTHAM, MASS.—Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH) will host a four-part webinar series this month describing the impacts of embodied carbon on building projects and exploring how the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has responded to calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These complimentary learning sessions will feature SGH experts holding carbon-related discussions from varying angles, including overall sustainability concerns, building enclosure system design, structural material considerations, and fireproofing approaches. For decades, the industry has focused on lowering operational carbon in buildings by decreasing energy usage. However, experts now recognize the importance of reducing the embodied carbon in construction projects...

NATIONAL REPORT—Hotel operators and investors are increasingly collaborating to accomplish shared green goals, a sign of growing interest in meeting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments. Take luxury resort group Six Senses and its parent company InterContinental Hotels Group. Each Six Senses property embeds sustainability commitments, such as the adoption of green building standards, the allocation of funds toward local community and environmental initiatives, and even the appointment of in-house sustainability professionals. “ESG is quickly gaining significance as an investment and performance metric for hotel owners and broader stakeholders to align on,” says YouRee Park, Senior Associate, Hotels Sustainability Lead, Asia...

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND—Real estate investor and developer Lamington Group is adding to its pioneering eco hometel brand with the opening of room2 Belfast, the fourth outpost, and first property outside England, set to open October 16. The new property will consist of 175 rooms across nine floors as well as a vibrant café, tearoom, meeting and event spaces, a gym, bar, restaurant and a spacious lounge available for both guests and locals alike looking for a vibrant eco-friendly space to work, relax or simply catch up with friends. Keeping in line with Lamington Group’s commitment to sustainability, the fully electric room2...

A few housekeeping items this week. I am sure they are just partial lists, but the number of properties now listed in the Renewable Energy All Stars section of Green Lodging News now stands at approximately 360. These include properties utilizing either hydro, geothermal, wind or solar technologies. By far solar has the longest list with about 300 properties, 208 of which are in the United States. If you currently have a property with electricity supplied by any of the above renewable technologies and it is not on my list, let me know and I will gladly add it. I...

A news item that I posted in our Vender News section caught my attention this morning. Spotnana, a Travel-as-a-Service platform modernizing the infrastructure of the travel industry, announced the release of Spotnana Carbon Removal, a new offering that enables corporations to remove carbon from the atmosphere through advanced technology that is fast, exact, and permanent. What technology? It is a system offered by Creturner Group, which uses a Bio Carbon Capture and Storage (Bio-CCS) process to convert wood-based waste products into coal that is deposited into old, end-of-life mining pits. This process ensures that a precise amount of carbon...

NEW YORK—Spotnana, the world’s first Travel-as-a-Service platform modernizing the infrastructure of the travel industry, announced the release of Spotnana Carbon Removal, a new offering that enables corporate travel programs to achieve their sustainability goals. Through Spotnana Carbon Removal corporations can remove carbon from the atmosphere through advanced technology that is fast, exact, and permanent. “Corporations need effective solutions for true carbon removal to ensure travel is sustainable for current and future generations,” said Johnny Thorsen, VP of Partnerships at Spotnana. “To achieve net zero impact, we believe it’s essential to provide access to carbon removal technology that is effective, accurate,...

SWORDS, IRELAND—Trane—by Trane Technologies, a global climate innovator, has introduced its Thermal Battery Storage-Source Heat Pump System—a first-of-its-kind solution to advance electrified, low-carbon heating in buildings, including in climates below zero-degrees Fahrenheit. The innovative system converges four proven technologies to accelerate building decarbonization: Thermal energy storage ice tanks, reclaiming and storing excess building heat like a battery, for optimal efficiency; Air-to-water heat pumps utilizing a reverse vapor compression cycle to extract heat from the air outside to warm the building; All-electric chiller-heaters, recovering the excess building heat from the ice tanks to expand air-to-water heat pump applications further into dense urban...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA—Leaders from across the global tourism sector are set to unite in Riyadh for this year’s UNWTO World Tourism Day (WTD), which will be celebrated from September 27 to 28. Through a range of impactful events, global ministers, industry leaders and experts will highlight the power of tourism and explore avenues for collaboration to foster growth of the sector, placing people, the planet and prosperity front and center of proceedings. Under the theme of “Tourism and Green Investments”, WTD 2023 will examine the role of investment in people and planet to secure livelihoods and foster mutual understanding, while exploring opportunities to...

SOLON, OHIO—Johnsonite, which joined the Tarkett family of brands in 2005, has long led the industry in delivering the broadest portfolio of high-performance, resilient flooring surfaces and accessories with a focus on healthy materials and circular manufacturing practices. In addition to being Cradle to Cradle Certified Bronze since 2014, Johnsonite rubber tile now has a new product-specific Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), which details health and environmental impacts of each ingredient, as well as embodied carbon from cradle to gate. The EPD shows that Tarkett’s carbon footprint for rubber tile is up to 20 percent lower than equivalent products in the industry. Committed to...