WORLDWIDE: Global serviced apartment agent, SilverDoor, is seeing increasing demand from corporate travel clients for carbon emissions data.
SilverDoor launched its carbon calculator in November 2023. It now displays carbon emissions data for more than 20,000 units across 27 countries worldwide.
Alex Neale, chief supply officer at SilverDoor said: “Since launch… the Carbon Calculator has undergone significant development, both from partners inputting data and growing demand and adoption from clients requesting to use it to inform current and future carbon travel budgets as part of their wider travel programmes.”
Neale says the demand for sustainability metrics and reporting has grown significantly and is being driven by regulation.
“The need to understand the environmental impact of operations and report across legislated directives including SECR (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting), CRSD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and Scope 3 is accelerating at pace.
“Tools such as our Carbon Calculator are increasingly becoming critical to the business function as a way to inform a practical roadmap to achieving carbon emissions targets at both regional and global levels.”
Neale added that a significant number of global clients now report they will be prioritising those accommodation providers who can provide a clearer insight into the carbon emissions of a booking as they plan future travel programmes, budgets and policies.
The Carbon Calculator’s algorithm uses data inputted from property partners to produce a calculated estimate of the carbon emissions produced per night of a stay. Benchmarked against Cornell University’s Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index, results are compared to a hotel industry average where available to give a more comprehensive analysis across the accommodation supply chain. The results are then displayed as part of wider search results including price and location across the SilverDoor website and online booking tool.
In addition, more details on renewable energy use have been added and those properties that use 100 per cent renewable energy and / or generate less than 1kg of CO2E per night are highlighted to clients at the front end.
Property partners using renewable energy are also required to upload their renewable energy certificate to evidence their credentials and the percentage of renewables they use.
SilverDoor’s Carbon Calculator also includes the ability to:
- Specify by region and property the total number of nights across different accommodation types (studio / one-bed / two-bed) and likewise the total volume of carbon emissions resulting from those bookings and how they compare to the industry average;
- Which apartments offer selected sustainability features;
- Select a set period to analyse the estimated total carbon footprint from stays across the SilverDoor global portfolio and a travel programme;
- Identify which locations were the costliest to their programme from a CO2e perspective and can also have greater insight into the potential savings switching from hotels to apartments within a particular location / region;
- Compare carbon emissions for a studio / one-bed / two-bed or three-bed apartment stay with a similar hotel stay and outline the difference in CO2e and percentage of savings compared with the equivalent Hotel Industry Averages from the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index for London;
Upcoming features in development include the ability to sort and filter by total emissions and set carbon budgets on search results.