WORLDWIDE: IHG Hotels and Resorts has acknowledged it has missed its current carbon emission target citing factors outside of its control.
Looking at the Carbon & Energy pillar of IHG’s ‘Journey to Tomorrow’ responsible business plan, Catherine Dolton chief sustainability officer explained that the group has been committed to “being a force for good by actively driving improvements within our organisation and supporting global efforts to combat climate change.”
However, she added that an “ever-changing backdrop of items outside our control makes it hard for us to deliver on our commitments in this area. In order for us, and others, to meet ambitious decarbonisation targets, several significant external shifts would be required.”
Dolton said the group had implemented extensive energy efficiency measures across its hotel estate, started its low carbon hotels community and supports its hotels to source renewable energy.
But back in 2021, it set an ambitious target to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG) and Scope 3 emissions from its franchised hotels’ energy consumption and Fuel and Energy Related Activities by 46 per cent by 2030, from a 2019 baseline year.
This 1.5 degrees Celsius aligned target received validation from the Science Based Targets Initiative.
Dolton says despite all the actions it has taken IHG’s total emissions are up 7.2 per cent since 2019. This has been put down to several factors.
- slow progress towards reliable clean energy grids around the world;
- the lack of a viable commercial and operating landscape to support energy efficiency;
- together with the continued growth of our hotel brands around the world.
“Since setting our targets, we have undertaken extensive work to map out what is needed to deliver on them, an assessment of where we have control and influence over actions; and the commercial viability of those actions.
“For our hotels to decarbonise at pace we need to see some really big shifts in the external market. Unfortunately, a number of these are not within our control and are not moving quickly enough, and so, despite our ongoing efforts, we are not on track meet our 2030 target,” Dolton said.
The majority of countries where IHG operates do not have national net zero policies which are “crucial to provide certainty to invest behind infrastructure and incentives to support decarbonisation across our estate.”
One critical policy factor noted was the pricing differences between electricity and gas, which must be narrowed to make renewable energy more competitive and financially viable.
“Despite these market headwinds we are making progress. We have delivered – on an intensity basis, per available room – a 9.4 per cent reduction in energy use and an 11.5 per cent reduction in emissions to date vs 2019,” Dolton added.
Other factors also cited in the reasons for the missed target were industry-specific – such as hotels being long-term investments, where retrofitting buildings can be costly and disruptive, compounded by the challenging global economic environment post pandemic, which has hindered owners’ ability to invest in initiatives.
Dolton also said limited availability, maturity and cost challenges to low-carbon technologies that are central to hotel infrastructure, such as building materials and HVAC systems play a part.