FRANKFURT, GERMANY—Scandic has opened its newest hotel in one of Frankfurt’s top locations just steps from the Main River and minutes from the European Central Bank. Scandic Frankfurt Hafenpark, which has 505 hotel rooms and event space for up to 570 people, has been designed to offer “meetings in the park” as a continuation of the Hafenpark park outside its doors. The hotel is part of the new Hafenpark Quartier Frankfurt development designed by Hamburg-based architect Hadi Teherani. Balancing individuality, a wealth of green space and Nordic style, it takes a whole new approach to the future of travel and...

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, MINN.—Almost 270 million pounds of cooking oil is difficult to comprehend but that is the amount taken out of the waste stream in 2021 by Restaurant Technologies, Inc. (RT). RT is one example of a company that has automated the cooking oil-management business while also closing the loop on it. Restaurants and other food and beverage operations manage their cooking oil in different ways. In one typical scenario, according to Diana Geseking, General Counsel and Secretary for RT, a restaurant will purchase jugs of oil from an oil producer. These jugs, also known as JIBs (jug-in-box) are sometimes...

FARMINGTON, CONN.—Otis Worldwide Corp. published its 2022 ESG report, describing its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy and highlighting alignment with the company’s strategic operating imperatives of Sustaining New Equipment Growth, Accelerating Service Portfolio Growth, Advancing Otis’ Digitalization, and Focusing and Empowering the Organization. The report outlines the progress made on the company’s 13 ESG goals to create value for Otis colleagues, communities, customers, and shareholders. “Doing the right thing is core to who we are, and we embrace the responsibility to deliver sustainable value for all stakeholders,” said Chair, CEO and President Judy Marks. “Our 2022 ESG report demonstrates...

With just 10 days to go, I have not heard from many properties regarding their April 22 Earth Day activities. As published on Green Lodging News on April 5, 1 Hotels is celebrating Earth Month with a series of brand and property offerings that honor the beauty of the natural world, promote environmental unity, and encourage individuals to take small steps towards sustainability. For the month of April, all eight carbon-neutral properties in North America have launched activities and initiatives that promote a more collective effort towards protecting our planet. In one example, in partnership with a local vendor...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA.—Since 2018, Orlando-based Legacy Vacation Resorts has been relentless in their pursuit of purpose. Committed to using travel as a force for good, LVR has taken impressive measures to become not only one of the most responsible travel options in the world, but also one of the most regenerative for the environment and their local communities. This is thanks to their status as a Certified B Corporation, a high-standard business certification representing a company’s commitment to creating positive social and environmental impact, from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. Originally...

BOSTON—Carbonwave, a world leader in upcycling the largest seaweed bloom on the planet into ultra-regenerative, plant-based, advanced biomaterials, announced an initial closing of its $5M Series A round led by Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers dedicated to sustainable investment, with additional significant participation from Viridios Capital, Popular Impact Fund, and Katapult Ocean. This investment round brings the total funding to date to $12M and will be used to build large-scale cosmetics emulsifier production facilities in Puerto Rico to satisfy growing customer demand for biomaterials. The current Puerto Rico facility, used for R&D, has also successfully developed a leather alternative from Sargassum (the floating seaweed masses), which...

SINGAPORE—Accor, the largest hotel operator in Australia and New Zealand, announced the appointment of David Young to the role of Chief Sustainability Officer and Director of ESG for Accor Pacific. Young has extensive ESG, commercial and operational experience gained over many years from working in the travel industry in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the U.K. Prior to joining Accor, David worked with the oneworld alliance as Global Program Director Sustainability and was previously the Executive Manager of Sustainability and ESG at the Qantas Group. Over the last 20 years David has held senior operating roles with Qantas as Executive Manager Commercial at Qantas...

Earth Day has taken on different manifestations over the course of its 53-year history but to some of us who recall the first one, its purpose remains intact. Credit for the first Earth Day goes to Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin who was a passionate environmentalist at a time when conservation wasn’t a politicized topic or a particularly notable one. He felt the need to expose the environmental damage of unregulated pollution, chemical toxicity, and habitat destruction. He also wisely realized that it was an intergenerational issue, and as a result, children and adults alike celebrated it together on April...

NATIONAL REPORT—The Vacationer has posted its Sustainable Travel Survey 2023. Click here to see it. The survey was conducted before Earth Day 2023 to find out how Americans feel about sustainable travel, how many are willing to spend more money to travel sustainably, how many plan on making more eco-friendly decisions when planning travel, and what the most important factor is when booking travel. Unfortunately, the results show sentiment is down this year compared to last year. The anonymous survey included 1,017 American adults over the age of 18 and was conducted online using SurveyMonkey’s interface/audience from March 1, 2023, to...

CROSSVILLE, TENN.—Crossville Inc. announced aggressive carbon reduction goals affecting its tiles’ global warming potential with a goal of achieving a 30 percent reduction in manufacturing embodied carbon by 2030. The company’s short-term goal is equally aggressive as it seeks to achieve an additional 10 percent reduction by 2024 as compared to its 2019 measurements. From its founding, Crossville has recognized that a product that comes from the earth should have minimal impact on the earth. In 2014, Crossville completed its first energy usage assessment, which led the company to develop its Environmental Product Declarations. Five years later, Crossville achieved a...