Hotels agree emissions measurement standard

A partnership of prominent global hospitality companies has created a system to ensure a consistent approach to measuring and reporting on carbon emissions.

The Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) aims to enable businesses to gauge reliably and communicate the carbon footprint of hotel stays and meetings.

The HCMI 1.0 methodology, announced on 12 June, is intended to help not only the hotel sector but also corporate clients which want to understand and meet their own carbon reduction targets.

It has been developed by the International Tourism Partnership (ITP), the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and 20 businesses, including Accor, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt, Marriott International and Premier Inn.  

HCMI 1.0 has been tested in hotels of varying sizes and locations and refined through stakeholder engagement and input from KPMG. The ITP hopes that, through common measurement and language, stakeholders can understand their businesses’ carbon impacts better.

ITP director Stephen Farrant said: “This has been a model of competitive collaboration that may serve as a useful template for other industry sectors to learn from in addressing the challenges of carbon management.

“It is inspiring to see so many leading hotel companies across the industry working together over so many months to make this unique and ground-breaking initiative a reality.”

WTTC president David Scowsill believes HCMI 1.0 will ultimately bring “more transparency and clarity for the consumer”.

He said: “HCMI has broken new ground in its industry-driven approach and I congratulate the companies involved on their leadership in ensuring this important initiative comes to fruition. We expect this industry-common language to be widely used within the next two years.”

Yvo de Boer, KPMG’s special global adviser for climate change and sustainability, concluded: “Carbon measurement is one of the key challenges of our time, and the myriad systems to measure and report carbon usage, particularly in the hotel sector, result in confusion and scepticism amongst consumers.

“This initiative to ensure that hotels are aligned in their approach to carbon measurement is a vital step in addressing the challenge.”