The massive MGM Grand in Las Vegas, one of the world's largest hotels, would be covered by the proposed new hotel carbon footprint management framework.
Wondering what a conference your team is planning will cost your company in terms of implied carbon emissions and other environmental impacts?
There may soon be an easier way to consider the advantages of one hotel property over another.
Over the past nine months or so, the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) and World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) have been working with two dozen hospital companies banded together as the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) Working Group to create a common system for reporting and communicating the carbon footprint of hotel stays or meetings.
The idea is for participating members to be able to report information in a similar format. That way potential guests, especially businesses that are trying to manage their corporate travel footprint, can get a more consistent sense of the impact.
“Carbon measurement is one of the key challenges of our time and the myriad of systems to measure and report carbon usage, particular in the hotel sector, results in confusion and skepticism among consumers,” said Yvo De Boer, KPMG Special Global Advisor, Climate Change & Sustainability, in a statement. “This initiative to ensure that hotels are aligned in their approach to carbon measurement is a vital step in addressing the challenge.”
The first version of the HCMI methodology was tested various members of the working group, refined with the help of KPMG and reviewed by the World Resources Institute.
It is hoped that the reporting guidelines will find their way into practices over the next two years.
Participating members include a who’s-who list of hotel companies such as Accor, Beijing Tourism Group, Carlson Rezidor Hotel, Diamond Resorts International, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels, Hyatt, InterContinental Hotels Group, Jumeirah Group, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Marriott International, Melia Hotels International, MGM Resorts International, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts, Orient-Express Hotels, Pan Pacific Hotel Group, Premier Inn, Starwood Hotels, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, The Red Carnation Hotel Collection, TUI AG and Wyndham Worldwide.
