UK: Exclusive Collection, the UK’s first B Corp hotel company, has released its latest impact report which highlights its achievements so far and lays out its plans for the future.
The 28 page report looks at 2022/23 ESG initiatives and activities, outcomes and future actions.
The hotel company has been recognised for its conscientious stance on business for more than 40 years and achieved B Corp status in 2021, and it is aiming for a 12 per cent increase when it is re-assessed for B Corp certification later this year.
Danny Pecorelli, MD of Exclusive Collection said: “We’ve made huge gains in 2022/23 and have a framework of commitments for the upcoming years covering our people, our local communities, supplier partners and of course to better our carbon road map.
“We recognise that we are custodians of our historic hotels and estates and by educating and constantly looking for improvement we can continue to use our business as a force for good.”
Towards the end of the report on pages 24-25 there are some detailed graphs about energy consumption detailing 30 per cent of the group’s energy consumption for electricity came from 100 per cent renewable sources, while five per cent came from biomass. We asked Exclusive Collection for more details about this and were told the group pays a premium to use guaranteed renewable electricity. An example of the group using biomass is the Spa at South Lodge and the golf clubhouse at the Manor and a few other outbuildings – the pellets are from certified renewably-sourced wood in Scotland.
Another part of the graph shows 47 per cent of the group’s energy consumption is from gas, while 18 per cent was from “bad stuff like fossil fuels”. We asked why gas wasn’t counted as a fossil fuel in this graph.
Pecorelli, explained that most of the gas feeds CHP (Combined Heat Power) units, which while it is a very efficient way of producing heat and power – isn’t perfect. The final 18 per cent is the legacy fuels like kerosene fuel, oil, diesel oils, Flogas tanks, as there are a lot of old heritage buildings. “This is the worst from a carbon footprint, so we are working hard at removing these fuel sources.”
Highlights from the Impact Report include:
- Two per cent reduction in carbon emissions, water usage and waste generation;
- All electricity from renewable energy sources;
- Zero to landfill policy and a target of 95 per cent of waste to be recycled;
- Annual energy reduction of 4 per cent;
- 70 per cent of Royal Berkshire’s annual supplier spend sits with organisations who are within a 50-mile radius and more than 80 per cent of Hillfield’s suppliers are within 25-miles of Pennyhill Park (pictured);
- Implementation of food waste management technology, Klimato to calculate, report and carbon label event menus, as well as educate meeting planners on more plant-friendly menu choices;
- The roll out of the Olio app at all hotels for any unused food that is left over from events;
- £105,000 donated to preferred charities Hospitality Action, Bug Life and Protect Earth, as well as making a £35,000 investment to help students at Eastleigh College learn and practice the business of hospitality;
- Through LandApp, data led maps of each hotel and estate are helping to improve carbon capture and to support local habitats and increase biodiversity. For example: at South Lodge, 19,500 vines were planted to form a vineyard in collaboration with Ridgeview Wine Estate, as well as 1,267 trees and 317 shrubs being added. It’s anticipated the vineyard will produce 30,000 bottles of English sparkling wine in the coming years, many of which will be used in the hotels. Boutique skincare brand Pelegrims is developing the full-circle use of the vines leaf extracts as in-house skincare products;
- South Lodge was recently named as Most Sustainable Hotel at The Cateys.
All Exclusive Collection Hotels have EV charging capability and last year we reported that the group had partnered with RAW EV charging to offer electric vehicles charging options at five of its hotels.
Exclusive Collection partners with RAW Charging to roll out EV chargers
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