With Planet 21, Accor has set itself a series of ambitious objectives for 2015. These objectives are structured into seven pillars (health, nature, carbon, innovation, local development, employment and dialogue) and 21 commitments.
After nearly 20 years of environmental commitment, last April 21, Accor again demonstrated its pioneering spirit when it launched Planet 21. A year on, the group’s sustainable development program has won over customers and employees alike and modified behaviors. The first results, both environmental and societal, are already visible.
“Here we are serious about sustainability!”
With Planet 21, Accor has set itself a series of ambitious objectives for 2015. These objectives are structured into seven pillars (health, nature, carbon, innovation, local development, employment and dialogue) and 21 commitments.
To ensure that Planet 21 takes hold in the daily operations of its 3,500 hotels and thus contribute to reinventing hotels sustainably, Accor has introduced an innovative new system to monitor its hotels’ sustainable development performance. This system, based on four performance levels (bronze, silver, gold and platinum), guides and encourages Accor brand hoteliers as they implement their sustainability measures.
A year after the launch of Planet 21, data analysis reflects a positive impact and the growing involvement of the hotels. At the beginning of 2012, 76% of the hotels did not yet meet Planet 21’s minimum requisite standards (bronze level); but one year later, 60% of them now meet at least the minimum bronze level requirements, and 31% are now certified sustainable hotels.
Today’s hotel guests say they are increasingly concerned about sustainable development issues, and these standards provide them with the guarantee that their Accor brand hotel has taken action in this field. For example, it monitors and analyzes its water and energy consumption, uses eco-friendly cleaning products, water flow regulators and low consumption lamps, offers well-balanced dishes on its menu or combats child sex tourism.
Accor has successfully improved the environmental and societal performance level of its hotels largely through the wide-scale deployment of a dedicated e-learning course in eight languages created by and for the hoteliers. This tool has already enabled the Group to train over 16,000 employees, including 5,000 in France.
Plant for the Planet: agroforestry projects for the hotels’ local communities
Accor’s reforestation program, Plant for the Planet, is proof of our hotels’ growing commitment to sustainable development. This year, the program took on new momentum by increasing support for local agroforestry projects in the hotels’ own communities.
Since the launch of Planet 21 and the establishment of the partnership with Pur Projet and Tristan Lecomte, 13 new plantations have been inaugurated around the world, in collaboration with small local producers. They add to the group’s six historic reforestation projects. Seven other plantations will be started before the end of the year.
In France, Accor hotels increased their commitment to protecting their communities’ ecosystems and encouraging local economic and social development by inaugurating seven new plantation plots last January. To celebrate Planet 21’s first anniversary, ibis hotels in France will now finance the planting of 5,000 trees in a forestry unit in Lower Normandy that was damaged by a series of storms.
1,400 hotels have joined the Plant for the Planet program since it was launched in 2009. These hotels use the following formula to encourage their guests to reuse their towels: “in this hotel, five reused towels = one tree planted.” So far, thanks to the laundry savings generated by this program, the hotels have funded the planting of three million trees.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
