CAMBODIA—Cardamom Tented Camp in Cambodia has won the 2022 Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) Sustainable Hotel Award for Climate Action. Apart from climate action, there were awards for building preservation/adaptive reuse, positive community impact, and sustainable design. Seven judges, mostly from institutional sustainability backgrounds, assessed the submissions. The BHN Group, which runs the HICAP event, announced the winners in October. The judges based the climate action decision on Cardamom Tented Camp’s ability to work with partners to preserve 180 sq km of lowland rainforest in the Botum Sakor national park in southwest Cambodia. On climate action, it is estimated that the...

Onsite Solar Strategy, Feasibility and Implementation Host Hotels & Resorts Portfolio Properties, including Hyatt Regency Maui, Fairmont Kea Lani, Andaz Maui, Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, Westin Georgetown, JW Marriott Washington DC, Hyatt Place Waikiki, AC Kierland Host Hotels & Resorts is an S&P 500 company and is the largest lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of the largest owners of premium luxury hotels. REV Energy Ventures (REV) worked closely with Host to develop and implement a corporate renewable energy strategy to increase onsite solar PV across Host’s U.S. portfolio. Since 2011, REV performed high level portfolio analysis to identify solar...

SAN FRANCISCO—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced updates to the primary version of the LEED green building certification program, LEED v4, to more directly address carbon emissions and climate change. The updates will raise the threshold of LEED v4 to encourage greater energy performance, aligning LEED v4 with the rigor of LEED v4.1, which raised the bar on energy and climate upon its release in 2018. “From day one, USGBC has been committed to the continuous improvements and advancement of green buildings standards. The new updates to LEED v4 affirm that climate is core to LEED,” said Peter Templeton,...

BANGKOK, THAILAND—Dusit Hotels and Resorts, under Dusit International, one of Thailand’s leading hotel and property development companies, has become the first hotel chain in Thailand to offer 100 percent organic rice across its entire portfolio of properties nationwide, bringing nutritional benefits to guests, customers, and employees, and sustainable income gains and life-changing developments to agricultural communities in the kingdom’s Thung Kula Rong Hai area, specifically Surin and Sisaket provinces. Driven by Dusit International’s food business unit, Dusit Foods, and the company’s Sustainability Committee, the initiative sees Dusit work directly with farm collectives and provide all the support they need—from quality...

SHARM EL SHEIKH—The tourism sector has set out its plans to achieve its climate action ambitions. At COP27, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) brought leading sector stakeholders together to share practical insights into accelerating the shift to greater sustainability and reaching Net-Zero. Since the launch of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism at COP26, more than 700 businesses, destinations, civil society groups and even countries have signed up, committing to decarbonize, regenerate and measure in order to halve their carbon emissions by 2030 and reach Net-Zero by 2050 at the latest. UNWTO Executive Director Zoritsa Urosevic said: “One year after...

HONG KONG—Tracy Yeow, sustainability manager at City Developments Limited, has moved on after four years with the property development company. She has joined NagaCorp, a Hong Kong-listed gaming company, as its Senior Sustainability Manager. She will be based in Phnom Penh, where NagaCorp runs the casino NagaWorld. NagaCorp’s sustainability efforts include forming a sustainability department in 2013 and acquiring recognition for NagaWorld as an “Asean Green Hotel”. Yeow’s role will involve developing a sustainability strategy for NagaCorp, adopting global best practices in environmental measurement and reporting, and working with internal and external stakeholders to roll out sustainability initiatives. At CDL, Yeow led the company’s...

There is no denying it. The last two years were difficult for all of us. But as we take a collective breath on the other side of the pandemic and ruminate on the positive takeaways from that time, many of us will settle on the same sentiment—sometimes it’s good to slow down. Our lives, which are so often defined by constant motion, suddenly came to a halt, a change of pace that many of us would never have chosen or stumbled upon organically. As social calendars were cleared of activities, travel plans were postponed, and work obligations came home with...

NEW YORK—Habitas, the rapidly growing, experience-led eco-hospitality brand with homes on three continents, continues its trajectory with nine new awards recognizing the brand’s excellence in sustainable design, innovation, and a community-based ethos. Captivating both guests and the travel industry and media, Habitas shines as the recent recipient of prestigious accolades such as Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers' Choice Awards for Habitas Tulum, Bacalar, and Namibia; Architectural Digest’s 2022 Hotel Awards for Great Design for Habitas Bacalar; and the AHEAD Americas Awards 2022 for Habitas Bacalar as Best Resort. The impressive streak of awards since June 2022 includes: Condé Nast Traveler’s Bright Ideas in Travel—Habitas brand—2022 Winner in this year’s inaugural awards; Architectural Digest’s 2022...

SHARM EL-SHEIKH—Bluewater, a Swedish innovator of award-winning hydration solutions and beverages, has lashed out at the lack of decisive action by world lawmakers to halt the production of single-use plastic bottles despite growing evidence of the threat posed to planetary and human health. “Some 1.3 billion plastic bottles are purchased around the world every day and unfortunately many ultimately end up in landfill or the oceans after being discarded, subsequently then leaching a variety of potentially health threatening chemicals and microplastics into the environment,” said Philip Russell, Managing Director of Bluewater’s U.K.-based events company, in a landmark speech in the...

I attended my first trade show in several years this past week—HX: The Hotel Experience and Boutique Design New York (BDNY). Both shows were held at the Javits Center in New York City. While smaller than before the era of Covid, the two shows impressed me greatly with their selection of exhibitors. Almost everywhere I turned, there was an exhibitor with a sustainability story to tell. Sometimes the company’s commitment was not necessarily seen in the product itself but in how it was made and the culture of the company. There were also numerous speaker presentations on the show...