BETHESDA, MD.—With a full slate of 2025 environmental impact goals, keeping track of progress is a mammoth job for Marriott International given its approximately 8,000 properties. Leading the collection of that data with a team of experts to help her is Marriott’s Sarah Boll, Senior Director, Energy & Sustainability, U.S./Canada. “We are the ones to gather data. We collect data on carbon intensity, water intensity, and waste,” Boll says. “Managing that data is a global responsibility. We do our best to clean it up and use it for target setting.” As leader of the data acquisition team, Boll overseas data acquisition...

LONDON—The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (the Alliance) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing both organizations to closer collaborative working, focusing on improving the environmental and social impact of the global hospitality industry. Through the MoU, WTTC and the Alliance have pledged to promote a united voice for a more sustainable future for the hospitality industry, cooperating on new research projects to foster an understanding of the latest in sustainability innovation. The two organizations will also work together to raise awareness of new initiatives and success stories, launch new commissions and advisory bodies,...

VANCOUVER, B.C.—Destination Canada has announced the next phase of its Canadian Business Event Sustainability Plan as domestic partners across the country embark on the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) annual benchmarking process. The GDS-Index is the world’s leading sustainability performance program for business tourism destinations around the world. Used by over 80 cities globally, the GDS-Index benchmarks and improves the sustainability performance and strategies of the municipality, its tourism supply chain, and the destination management organization. The program is being managed by ConnectSeven Group based in Vancouver, who lead GDS-Movement initiatives in North America. Launched in the spring of 2022, Destination Canada’s Canadian Business Event Sustainability Plan is a...

BETHESDA, MD.—Marriott International released its 2022 Serve 360 Report presenting data from 2021 and demonstrating its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts toward the company’s 2025 Sustainability and Social Impact Goals. The Report can be accessed on the Serve 360 website. In support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Marriott’s sustainability and social impact platform, Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction, guides the company’s commitment to make a positive and sustainable impact wherever it does business, delivering value for associates, customers, owners, the environment, and communities around the world. Launched in 2017, the company is celebrating five years of...

DARIEN, CONN.—Nuveen Green Capital, a leader in sustainable commercial real estate financing solutions, announced that it has provided over $7M in C-PACE financing for the adaptive reuse of the recently-opened Hotel Marcel in New Haven, Conn. Hotel Marcel, which is part of the Tapestry Collection by Hilton, is the first anticipated net-zero hotel and Passive House-certified hotel in the United States. The hotel utilized C-PACE to finance a large-scale solar array that will allow the property to generate its own electricity for lighting, heating, cooling and hot water for its common areas, restaurant, laundry, meeting rooms, and 165 guestrooms...

With approximately 8,000 properties under its wings, Marriott International, Inc. is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to influencing the direction of our industry—at all levels, including ESG— Environmental, Social, and Governance. Marriott just released its 2022 Serve 360 Report presenting data from 2021 and demonstrating its ESG efforts toward the company’s 2025 Sustainability and Social Impact Goals. Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction is the name of Marriott’s sustainability and social impact platform. It was launched in 2017. When a company oversees so many properties, it also oversees a lot of employees. At year-end 2021,...

Have you ever heard of the term “green-hushing”? I learned about the term in a new report from South Pole called “Net Zero and Beyond.” In this year’s report, South Pole looked at over 1,200 private companies that have a sustainability or CSR head and can thus be deemed a proxy for companies leading on climate action. South Pole found a surprising trend: nearly a quarter of those surveyed global climate leaders will not be publicizing their achievements and milestones beyond the bare minimum or as required by for example the Science Based Targets initiative. This, South Pole says,...

SEATTLE—Sustainable Travel International has released Sustainable Travel: Where Next?, an all-new documentary series that highlights how the global travel and tourism sector is taking action to protect our planet and its treasured destinations. The series debuted as the international community celebrated World Tourism Day and acknowledges the important role that tourism plays in sustainable development. Using high-end cinematography, Sustainable Travel: Where Next? takes viewers on a different kind of a journey, exploring sustainability initiatives that are transforming tourism all around the world. The series is a collection of 16 short-form documentary films produced by Zinc Communicate, a Zinc Media Group...

LAS VEGAS—Caesars Entertainment, Inc., the largest casino-entertainment company in the United States, released its 2021-2022 Corporate Social Responsibility report. The report reflects a refresh in priority topics after an extensive materiality assessment and stakeholder mapping exercise. It also highlights progress toward Caesars’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goal of gender and racial equality in leadership roles by 2025, progress toward the company’s goal of reduction in Scope 1 + 2 emissions by 100 percent by 2050, a new educational assistance program for Team Members and more. “As we continue to work toward and reflect on our goals, the materiality assessment that was conducted...

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA—Beks Ndlovu, founder and CEO of African Bush Camps, has long been active in working to conserve and even regenerate natural areas of the African continent. Now he has moved to make it an industry-wide initiative by co-launching the Africa Change Maker (AMC) movement. African Bush Camps is a founding member of ACM with one key goal: jointly supporting Africa’s resilience. ACM is a movement, according to Ndlovu, that asks the trade and lodges to pay $5/per bed-night into a “war chest.” ACM now has 20 members, and the goal is to add more members and increase...