Sustainability Opportunities Exist In BRICs

10 years, 7 months ago - August 13, 2013
Sustainability Opportunities Exist In BRICs...
Hoteliers bear much of the responsibility in creating eco-friendly buildings in BRIC countries, where sustainable standards are just coming into play.

GLOBAL REPORT—While hotel developers are interested in key countries, including Brazil, Russia, India and China, there is a general lack of awareness about sustainable development, environmental regulations or cutting carbon emissions. Hotel companies can be leaders in promoting green initiatives in these developed regions, sources said.

If you want economic growth, want development, want jobs and revenue, you have to consider cautiously the environmental impact you have,” said Eric Ricaurte, founder of consulting firm Greenview and Hotel News Now columnist. Most hotel developers in BRIC countries are encountering environmental problems with air pollution, drought, water conservation and waste management, he added.

Manav Thadani, chairman of HVS-India, said developing economies are more advanced when it comes to sustainability, mainly because they are a blank slate. But BRIC countries pose more of a problem to hoteliers who have to retroactively create eco-friendly and sustainable standards in hotels.

“It’s better to build sustainable solutions at the start,” said Inge Huijbrechts, VP of responsible business at Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.

Challenges in BRIC
Challenges with changing old standards and apathy are affecting these countries the most.

“When you build or acquire a hotel in the developed world, you have infrastructure in energy and waste,” Ricaurte said, but in places like India, “you have to treat your own waste water.”

“These aren’t new to developers,” he said, but these issues have the most direct impact on hotel development.

Thadani said India has a high degree of recyclables, but “I’m aware of few hotels that we work with that have 0% waste practices.” These may be few and far between, but they do exist and almost certainly are not branded hotels, he said.

“In fact, I do believe many international brands have various programs, but they are not too stringent and are more for marketing purposes than actually doing something about being sustainable,” Thadani said.

He also pointed to China and the Middle East, countries that lead the global hotel markets when it comes to new development but are building hotels that are “very poorly designed and certainly do not conform to being sustainable,” he said. “Given that countries like China are facing very heavy pollution in these cities, there needs to be more stringent laws drawn up and implemented.”

Eventually, governments will have to take notice, Ricaurte said, adding: “You can have a green hotel in a polluted market, and even if you do that, it’s threatened if there’s no correct (environmental) policy.”

And governments are taking notice.

In August of last year, China announced it will spend $382 billion in antipollution measures and energy conservation projects over the next three and a half years. The plan also calls for China to cut its carbon emission per unit of gross domestic product by 40% to 45% from 2006 levels by 2020.

India, too, is starting to see the effects of years of pollution. The annual cost of environmental degradation in India is approximately $80 billion, or 5.7% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to the World Bank’s "Diagnostic Assessment of Select Environmental Challenges in India," released in July; the report warned that failure to address environmental challenges could constrain the country’s long-term productivity.

Hotels lead the way
Global hotel companies may provide a solution to the sustainability issue in these countries, said Celine Suarez, manager of advisory services at Business for Social Responsibility, which works with businesses to create a sustainable environment.

Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide have sustainable building standards when they develop a new property and “are certainly trying to be more sensitive to local conditions that they’re operating in,” she said.

Without specific regulations, it falls on hotel companies to determine contractors and developers on the local level that value sustainable buildings, incorporate standards in the building process and make sure any developer bidding on a job has to meet certain criteria to work with that company, she said.

“As an industry, we’re the only way to demonstrate (sustainable practices). The government is not going to,” Huijbrechts said. “Regulations won’t be put in place about sustainable buildings in the near future; hotel companies like us make it a possibility.

“To be honest, so far, in all our properties in Russia there are basic elements that we request but to go beyond that and include renewable energy, to go with treatment systems, that’s not happened yet,” she added.

Although there is an eco-labeling program in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Huijbrechts said Sochi, the site for the 2014 Winter Olympics, can be a trailblazer in Russia. The highly publicized event coupled with various developments is “an opportunity for the industry to demonstrate—to take the lead—and have eco-friendly hotels even when the government is not requesting it.”

Global brands are taking an interest in these countries’ best interests. For example, Marriott’s Nobility of Nature program introduces rural farmers in China’s Sichuan Province to sustainable businesses, placing less stress on the environment, according to the company’s press release. The company also invested $500,000 to support the Pingwu Water Conservation Fund as well as other water conservation initiatives in Sichuan.

“Given the size and scale of (global hotel companies), they have certain influence in local contractors,” Suarez said.

Hong Kong-based Cachet Hotel Group is hoping to change China’s course with Urbn hotels, the first carbon-neutral hotel in China.

“In a rapidly growing economy like China, it is important that different industries make their green efforts now,” Isabelle Dugal-Thompson, VP of brand management for Cachet Hotel Group. “We believe it is possible to do so and be a financially successful business at the same time.”

The construction of the building is made from recycled and local materials. In addition, the hotel has standard initiatives such as recycling bins in the rooms, options to wash or not wash linens, etc.

“China is catching up to the rest of the world, and it shows,” she said. “Just like it took Westerners a few years to embrace reusable bags at grocery stores, local produce, and being energy and water conscious at home, it will take a few years for Chinese citizens to see the value as well. But it definitely is trending that way.”

 

Text by Hotel News Now

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