Helsinki, 28 January 2025 – Resort carbon emissions are at the least 5 occasions larger than beforehand thought, in line with analysis by Bob W.
‘LEGIT’ (Lodging Emissions & Visitor-night Affect Tracker), a brand new instrument developed by the tech-powered hospitality operator and Furthr, a prime tier environmental consultancy, offers visitors full environmental affect metrics for every of its room-types in each property. Bob W now clearly publishes these per-night visitor emission numbers on their reserving web site, their visitor app and in its sustainability reporting.
Bob W’s LEGIT builds on present frameworks for assessing lodge carbon footprints, such because the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s Resort Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI), as detailed within the firm’s newest Sustainability Report.
The HCMI commonplace for per night time emissions consists of electrical energy, fuel, refrigerant gases and laundry companies, and is utilized by greater than 30,000 hospitality operators together with Hyatt, Marriott Worldwide and Scandic.
Bob’s LEGIT takes further components into consideration, together with the environmental affect of building supplies, cleansing companies, toiletries, foods and drinks consumables, waste and water and furnishings.
HCMI has been extensively praised for serving to operators take an important first step in carbon measurement. Nevertheless, Niko Karstikko, Bob W’s co-founder and CEO, needs operators to go additional through the use of extra complete measurement requirements and is looking for higher transparency in sharing environmental efficiency to each visitors and the broader trade.
When utilized to Bob W’s portfolio, the brand new extra correct methodology calculated a mean carbon footprint 419% larger than the HCMI estimate – a five-fold enhance.[1] This stark distinction was pushed by the inclusion of considerably extra supplier-contributed oblique emissions.
Bob W’s Koti Katajanokka constructing in Finland, for instance, recorded a mean of 1.48 kilograms of CO₂ equal per night time (kgCO₂e/night time) utilizing the HCMI methodology. Nevertheless, when the brand new mannequin was utilized, the determine rocketed to 19.7 kgCO₂e/night time.
Key components like room charges and facilities have lengthy performed a pivotal position in guiding visitor selections when searching property listings. By incorporating LEGIT per visitor night time emissions metrics into every of its property listings, Bob W visitors are empowered to make knowledgeable and sustainable selections about their lodging.
Whereas the brand new instrument represents a significant milestone in understanding the total environmental affect of the lodge sector, it additionally carries severe implications for a way the trade presently gauges and mitigates its carbon footprint.
Niko Karstikko, Co-founder and CEO of Bob W, stated:
“The rising technology of travellers calls for extra transparency and is uninterested in greenwashing. The lodging trade owes it to its visitors to provide the numbers upfront and our intention is to make per-night visitor emissions as outstanding as diet details on the again of a cereal packet.
“Our work with Furthr suggests the true scale of the lodge sector’s environmental affect has been vastly underestimated. For an trade that accounts for roughly 9% of world carbon emissions,[2] there could be no room for guesswork relating to assessing its true contribution.
“The disparity between our new methodology and others raises crucial questions in regards to the effectiveness of present sustainability methods throughout the sector. Many operators may effectively be falling shorter than they realise in addressing the total scope of their emissions, particularly oblique sources.
“Among the many pool of huge, huge lodge and hospitality gamers, we’re a comparatively small challenger model. So, if we’re in a position to determine and measure our precise affect on the planet, then so can also others.
“We might not have all of the solutions, however we stay dedicated to being probably the most trustworthy operator within the trade and are working exhausting to empower our visitors to make knowledgeable selections. We’re keen to listen to suggestions from different operators about our new LEGIT methodology and invite open dialogue to refine and improve it collectively. Collaboration is vital to evolving this initiative into one thing actually impactful for the whole trade.”
Bob W’s newest Sustainability Report gives an in depth evaluation of the operator’s greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions for its whole portfolio in 2023. It highlights a complete carbon footprint of 4,489 tonnes of carbon dioxide equal (tCO₂e) – a 90% enhance in 2022, pushed by the speedy enlargement of Bob W’s portfolio, which grew by round 200% throughout that very same interval.
Bow W is a pacesetter in sustainable hospitality having grow to be the primary worldwide climate-neutral hospitality supplier in 2021. The operator offsets 100% of its operational emissions, prioritises renewable vitality sources and has dedicated to turning into a net-zero enterprise by 2050.
Paul Dunca, chief working officer at Furthr, stated: “Instruments like HCMI have supplied a powerful basis for measuring operational emissions, serving to many operators take their first steps towards sustainability. By introducing standardised sustainability reporting, HCMI empowered hospitality companies and established a centralised system to drive significant progress.
“Nevertheless, as our understanding of the hospitality trade’s true affect on the planet continues to evolve, it turns into more and more clear that there’s far more work to be finished.
“By adopting superior measurement strategies, the trade can develop a fuller, extra correct image of its environmental affect, after which take significant steps in the direction of reaching its sustainability objectives.”
“It’s uncommon to see a group like Bob W’s. They already had sustainability baked into their ethos, and now they’ve taken it to the subsequent degree by formalising their web zero technique. We labored carefully with them to push for higher information accuracy, streamline reporting, and align with the best requirements, giving them a transparent basis to attain their daring imaginative and prescient.”
To learn Bob W’s full sustainability report and discover out extra about LEGIT, please click on right here.