Or more specifically, how big is your carbon footprint? This question has increasingly been on the mind of not only hotel guests, but industry leaders as well. Up until this point however there has been no standardization regarding which metrics should be used when calculating a hotel property’s carbon footprint.
Cue Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research (CHR), specifically, Eric Ricaurte. CHR noticed a trend at various conferences/industry events regarding industry stakeholders and their interest in being able to compare the carbon footprint of various hotel properties. Mr. Ricaurte subsequently completed the framework (located here) which will be used as the foundation for standardization which will help the industry move forward.
Hopefully with the adoption of this framework, or something like it, consumers will be able to compare one hotel to another in terms of their carbon footprint and overall sustainability. In the study, a sample group of 20 properties were used to demonstrate the framework and illustrate how it could be applied to the marketplace.
Only time will tell if Eric Ricaurte’s work will ultimately change the overall industry and how properties are compared in the minds of consumers. However, every form of standardization, which hopes to affect an entire industry, takes time and Mr. Ricaurte has provided us with that critical first step towards this standardization.
