Sharp focus on mandatory carbon reporting, saving energy and managing water

A new report by the International Tourism Partnership brings a clear focus on mandatory carbon reporting, saving energy and managing water.

We’ve often argued, particularly in the past year, that the commercial imperative for sustainability is stronger than ever – “being green” is no longer just a nice thing to do.

This was brought home by the launch of World Water Week and the publication of the International Tourism Partnership’s water risk assessment report on Thursday. It makes a succinct case for action globally by the hotel sector to protect and preserve a precious social resource.

It says: “Water is quickly becoming a limiting factor in many branches of the private sector. As a considerably water dependent industry, the hotel industry is not an exception… The industry runs the risk of experiencing a range of negative impacts that will affect its ability to survive and/or grow.”

The ITP suggests seven areas for action, including water saving and reuse, operation efficiency and technology choices, with an eye on the bottom line as all activity has to make commercial sense. We strongly support this.

Indeed, the need to prove Return on Investment in all areas of sustainability is a core element in our business – and we have case studies to prove the worth to companies in the hotel sector and wider areas.

We also took part this week in The Guardian‘s “Mandatory carbon reporting: the implications for business” live web chat on Wednesday, after blogging about it last week. You can catch up on the chat here but the main points we took away from the session were that companies are facing a huge challenge, given the complexities of measuring carbon footprint, gathering the right information and presenting it coherently.

These complexities are magnified many times over for companies operating in many countries, all of which have varying carbon emissions methodologies and benchmarks.

This is a subject that we will return to over the coming weeks and months, sharing our CSR knowledge on effective ways to meet the carbon reporting challenge.

Finally, we enjoyed and joined in during the BBC 5Live Energy Day on Thursday where the early morning business programme told listeners that the hospitality sector was leading the way in energy saving. It celebrated the successes of global hotel group Carlson Rezidor, who we work closely with as sustainability partner.

Our work with Carlson Rezidor in the UK and Ireland is scheduled to deliver a minimum of £250,000 in energy savings this year, from LED lighting refit alone. Add to that water, HVAC and boiler efficiency solutions and the figure could be nudging £1 million.

This is good news for the hotel group, hotel guests, the planet – and the team at SaveMoneyCutCarbon! The consumer is well disposed towards these types of initiative – being seen to be authentically green is a wonderful marketing plus point.