Dive Brief:

• Radisson Hotel Group is aiming for 100 of its hotels to reach net-zero status by 2030, a goal the company announced during an international hospitality forum last week.
• The new target builds on a pilot the hotelier rolled out last year for its Verified Net Zero Hotels program, which is designed to reduce the environmental impact of hotels by scrapping fossil fuel use and cutting carbon emissions across operations, according to the company’s website.
• Radisson said it now aims to scale the initiative this year and introduce it in hotels in Norway, followed by Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Further expansion is also planned for Germany, Austria, and Spain’s Canary Islands over a five-year period.

Dive Insight:

The hospitality giant’s net-zero program is based on the Net Zero Methodology for Hotels and aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative and follows a framework that focuses on all three emission scopes, according to a March 23 release.

Hotels enrolled in the program aim to reduce their scope 1 and 2 emissions — direct emissions generated from company-owned or controlled sources — through electrification, using renewable heating and cooling networks and sourcing 100% renewable energy.

Concurrently, the program seeks to cut scope 3 emissions — indirect emission generated by a company’s supply chain — across areas like food and beverage, waste, laundry, amenities and business travel, according to the release.

Radisson said every hotel enrolled in the program would undergo third-party verification from technical testing and certification organization TÜV Rheinland, which would ensure the program complies with the hotel-sector net-zero standard. The methodology seeks to support hotels and the broader hospitality industry in meeting their net-zero commitments and other sustainability goals and is implemented through a 2025-2050 timeline. Targets throughout this timeline include the initial calculating emissions and creating a decarbonization plan to aggressively cut emissions across the supply chain.

The hotel group said guests that book any net-zero hotel can “experience 100% renewable energy, low-carbon menus, and minimal waste hotels while their stay or meeting has a net-zero footprint.”

The program is currently operational at two hotels located in Manchester and Oslo, as part of the initial pilot program. Radisson said that around 20% of guests booked their stay at the hotel due to its net-zero status.

“At Radisson Hotel Group, sustainability ultimately starts with people. It is about delivering for our guests, creating value for our owners, and supporting the communities where we operate,” Radisson Hotel Group CEO Federico J. González Tejera said in the release. “Verified Net Zero Hotels are an important step in our net zero transformation, setting a new standard for how hospitality can reduce its environmental impact while continuing to support people, destinations, and economic activity.”