UK: The Energy & Environment Alliance (EEA) has launched a global consultation led by its newly established Taskforce on Hotels & Lodging Sustainability Standards.
The initiative will work to develop industry-wide agreements on sustainability standards, benchmarks and financial performance metrics for the hotels and lodging sector.
The Taskforce aims to focus on standards set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which collectively set the global benchmarks for financial and sustainability disclosures.
IFRS S1 and S2 standards require organisations to disclose material information on climate and sustainability-related risks and prospects.
You can read more about how this impacts on sustainability governance and hotels here.
These standards have already been mandated by several countries across the world and are interoperable with the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), thereby underpinning investment-grade information for global capital markets.
Ufi Ibrahim, CEO, EEA said: “Sustainability risks and prospects are increasingly influential on asset values, the cost of capital, investment decisions and how business is done.
“In a growing number of jurisdictions, sustainable practices are required by law. However, harmonised standards, precise metrics and reliable benchmarks have yet to be formally implemented on a global basis.”
The first meeting of the Taskforce will take place today, with the ISSB’s Corey Walrod making a formal address.
This will be followed by the first regional roundtable, taking place at the Annual Hotel Conference at the end of the month.
Taskforce members include leading economists and technical experts from King’s College London, BREEAM (a global authority on technical building standards) and the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) – the global benchmark for decarbonisation pathways in real estate.
Some of the well-known figures across sustainable hospitality who are on the Taskforce include: Catherine Dolton, chief sustainability officer, IHG, Inge Huijbrechts, global SVP sustainability, security and corporate communications, Radisson, Dr Marc Lepere, founder & CEO, Omnevue and head of ESG, King’s Business School, and Glenn Mandziuk, CEO, World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance.
The Taskforce will engage with a wide variety of stakeholders around the world including regional roundtables, to gather diverse perspectives and test the effectiveness of proposed standards, at industry conferences across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, North and South America, and Asia Pacific.
The pre-consultation period to raise awareness and gather insight will begin this month and continue until April next year. The consultation period will take place May-July, with the post-consultation concluding in December 2025.
Ibrahim added: “ It is hugely in the hospitality industry’s interest to grasp the initiative to shape them, to ensure they will be uniform, rigorous, workable, and widely supported. If we don’t do that and regulators impose them, there could be all kinds of counterproductive consequences. It is encouraging that both regulators and many industry leaders are supportive of this approach.”
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