That is not a threat, that is just what we are doing,” he told Singapore hoteliers last week at an event hosted by hospitality group Ascott.ĭurband was in Singapore to sign a deal with Ascott to jointly provide over 700 hours of sustainability training to local hotel businesses this year, via in-person and online classes.Īscott has over 900 properties in 40 countries, and is owned by Singapore real estate manager CapitaLand Investment. “We’re just going to keep pounding on, we’re working from every angle.

But there are, by rough calculation, less than 1 per cent of hotels worldwide certified by its standard. Not everyone is playing ball: the emissions of higher class hotels had continued climbing.ĭurband sees greater adoption of GSTC’s certification as key to a more sustainable future. A 2017 review found that the industry needs to slash emissions by 66 per cent per room by 2030, and 90 per cent by 2050, for future growth to not cause an increase in carbon emissions.īut emissions were down just under 7 per cent per occupied room between 20, research published this month showed. Hotels account for 1 per cent of global emissions, and the figure is set to increase. Durband is also looking to tweak GSTC’s own standards to raise the bar for applicants seeking endorsement. Instead, Randy Durband, chief executive of United States-based Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), is focusing on getting corporate “power players” that control large swathes of the hospitality business to nudge hotel clients towards green certification.

Big hotels have the ability to neutralise their carbon emissions by mid-century, but setting a global pledge covering all the players might be too difficult, according to the head of a nonprofit that sets standards for what counts as sustainable tourism.

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