Helsinki, 28 January 2025 – Lodge carbon emissions are at the very least 5 occasions larger than beforehand thought, based on analysis by Bob W.

‘LEGIT’ (Lodging Emissions & Visitor-night Influence Tracker), a brand new device developed by the tech-powered hospitality operator and Furthr, a high tier environmental consultancy, offers friends full environmental impression metrics for every of its room-types in each property. Bob W now clearly publishes these per-night visitor emission numbers on their reserving web site, their visitor app and in its sustainability reporting.

Bob W’s LEGIT builds on current frameworks for assessing lodge carbon footprints, such because the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s Lodge Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI), as detailed within the firm’s newest Sustainability Report.

The HCMI normal for per night time emissions consists of electrical energy, gasoline, refrigerant gases and laundry companies, and is utilized by greater than 30,000 hospitality operators together with  Hyatt,  Marriott Worldwide and  Scandic.

Bob’s LEGIT takes further components into consideration, together with the environmental impression of building supplies, cleansing companies, toiletries, food and drinks consumables, waste and water and furnishings.

HCMI has been extensively praised for serving to operators take an important first step in carbon measurement. Nonetheless, Niko Karstikko, Bob W’s co-founder and CEO, needs operators to go additional through the use of extra complete measurement requirements and is looking for higher transparency in sharing environmental efficiency to each friends and the broader trade.

When utilized to Bob W’s portfolio, the brand new extra correct methodology calculated a median carbon footprint 419% larger than the HCMI estimate – a five-fold enhance.^[1] This stark distinction was pushed by the inclusion of considerably extra supplier-contributed oblique emissions.

Bob W’s Koti Katajanokka constructing in Finland, for instance, recorded a median of 1.48 kilograms of CO₂ equal per night time (kgCO₂e/night time) utilizing the HCMI methodology. Nonetheless, when the brand new mannequin was utilized, the determine rocketed to 19.7 kgCO₂e/night time.

Key components like room charges and facilities have lengthy performed a pivotal position in guiding visitor choices when shopping property listings. By incorporating LEGIT per visitor night time emissions metrics into every of its property listings, Bob W friends are empowered to make knowledgeable and sustainable selections about their lodging.

Whereas the brand new device represents a serious milestone in understanding the total environmental impression of the lodge sector, it additionally carries critical implications for a way the trade presently gauges and mitigates its carbon footprint.

Niko Karstikko, Co-founder and CEO of Bob W, mentioned:

“The rising era of travellers calls for extra transparency and is bored with greenwashing. The lodging trade owes it to its friends to provide the numbers upfront and our goal is to make per-night visitor emissions as outstanding as vitamin details on the again of a cereal packet.

“Our work with Furthr suggests the true scale of the lodge sector’s environmental impression has been vastly underestimated. For an trade that accounts for roughly 9% of worldwide carbon emissions,^[2] there may be no room for guesswork relating to assessing its true contribution.

“The disparity between our new methodology and others raises essential questions concerning the effectiveness of present sustainability methods inside the sector. Many operators might effectively be falling shorter than they realise in addressing the total scope of their emissions, particularly oblique sources.

“Among the many pool of huge, massive lodge and hospitality gamers, we’re a comparatively small challenger model. So, if we’re capable of determine and measure our precise impression on the planet, then so can also others.

“We could not have all of the solutions, however we stay dedicated to being essentially the most trustworthy operator within the trade and are working exhausting to empower our friends to make knowledgeable choices. We’re keen to listen to suggestions from different operators about our new LEGIT methodology and invite open dialogue to refine and improve it collectively. Collaboration is essential to evolving this initiative into one thing really impactful for the complete trade.”

Bob W’s newest Sustainability Report offers an in depth evaluation of the operator’s greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions for its whole portfolio in 2023. It highlights a complete carbon footprint of 4,489 tonnes of carbon dioxide equal (tCO₂e) – a 90% enhance in 2022, pushed by the speedy enlargement of Bob W’s portfolio, which grew by round 200% throughout that very same interval.

Bow W is a pacesetter in sustainable hospitality having change into the primary worldwide climate-neutral hospitality supplier in 2021. The operator offsets 100% of its operational emissions, prioritises renewable vitality sources and has dedicated to turning into a net-zero enterprise by 2050.

Paul Dunca, chief working officer at Furthr, mentioned: “Instruments like HCMI have supplied a powerful basis for measuring operational emissions, serving to many operators take their first steps towards sustainability. By introducing standardised sustainability reporting, HCMI empowered hospitality companies and established a centralised system to drive significant progress.

“Nonetheless, as our understanding of the hospitality trade’s true impression on the planet continues to evolve, it turns into more and more clear that there’s way more work to be performed.

“By adopting superior measurement strategies, the trade can develop a fuller, extra correct image of its environmental impression, after which take significant steps in the direction of reaching its sustainability targets.”

“It’s uncommon to see a staff like Bob W’s. They already had sustainability baked into their ethos, and now they’ve taken it to the following stage by formalising their web zero technique. We labored carefully with them to push for higher knowledge accuracy, streamline reporting, and align with the best requirements, giving them a transparent basis to realize their daring imaginative and prescient.”

To learn Bob W’s full sustainability report and discover out extra about LEGIT, please click on here.