Helsinki, 28 January 2025 – Resort carbon emissions are no less than 5 occasions greater than beforehand thought, in keeping with analysis by Bob W.
‘LEGIT’ (Lodging Emissions & Visitor-night Influence Tracker), a brand new software developed by the tech-powered hospitality operator and Furthr, a prime tier environmental consultancy, offers visitors full environmental influence 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 current frameworks for assessing resort 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 extra elements into consideration, together with the environmental influence of building supplies, cleansing companies, toiletries, foods and drinks consumables, waste and water and furnishings.
HCMI has been broadly praised for serving to operators take a significant first step in carbon measurement. Nonetheless, Niko Karstikko, Bob W’s co-founder and CEO, needs operators to go additional through the use of extra complete measurement requirements and is asking for higher transparency in sharing environmental efficiency to each visitors and the broader business.
When utilized to Bob W’s portfolio, the brand new extra correct methodology calculated a mean carbon footprint 419% greater than the HCMI estimate – a five-fold improve.[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. Nonetheless, when the brand new mannequin was utilized, the determine rocketed to 19.7 kgCO₂e/night time.
Key elements like room charges and facilities have lengthy performed a pivotal position in guiding visitor selections when shopping 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 decisions about their lodging.
Whereas the brand new software represents a serious milestone in understanding the total environmental influence of the resort sector, it additionally carries critical implications for a way the business at present gauges and mitigates its carbon footprint.
Niko Karstikko, Co-founder and CEO of Bob W, mentioned:
“The rising technology of travellers calls for extra transparency and is uninterested in greenwashing. The lodging business owes it to its visitors to provide the numbers upfront and our purpose is to make per-night visitor emissions as outstanding as vitamin information on the again of a cereal packet.
“Our work with Furthr suggests the true scale of the resort sector’s environmental influence has been vastly underestimated. For an business that accounts for roughly 9% of world carbon emissions,[2] there may be no room for guesswork in the case of assessing its true contribution.
“The disparity between our new methodology and others raises essential questions concerning the effectiveness of present sustainability methods throughout the sector. Many operators may properly be falling shorter than they realise in addressing the total scope of their emissions, particularly oblique sources.
“Among the many pool of massive, huge resort and hospitality gamers, we’re a comparatively small challenger model. So, if we’re capable of determine and measure our precise influence 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 business and are working laborious 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 essential to evolving this initiative into one thing really impactful for your complete business.”
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% improve in 2022, pushed by the speedy growth of Bob W’s portfolio, which grew by round 200% throughout that very same interval.
Bow W is a frontrunner in sustainable hospitality having turn out to be the primary worldwide climate-neutral hospitality supplier in 2021. The operator offsets 100% of its operational emissions, prioritises renewable power sources and has dedicated to turning into a net-zero enterprise by 2050.
Paul Dunca, chief working officer at Furthr, mentioned: “Instruments like HCMI have offered a robust 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.
“Nonetheless, as our understanding of the hospitality business’s true influence on the planet continues to evolve, it turns into more and more clear that there’s far more work to be carried out.
“By adopting superior measurement strategies, the business can develop a fuller, extra correct image of its environmental influence, after which take significant steps in direction of reaching its sustainability targets.”
“It’s uncommon to see a staff 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 intently with them to push for higher information accuracy, streamline reporting, and align with the best requirements, giving them a transparent basis to realize their daring imaginative and prescient.”
To learn Bob W’s full sustainability report and discover out extra about LEGIT, please click on right here.
