Focus is on reforestation as Accor hotels worldwide celebrate
first anniversary of PLANET 21

 

A year after launching its PLANET 21 sustainable development program, Accor celebrates a major milestone, announcing that Plant for the Planet - the Group's innovative towel reuse and reforestation project - has planted over 3 million trees worldwide. To celebrate this achievement, Accor hotels around the world are engaging in tree planting exercises to raise awareness and kick off an ambitious new phase of the project.

 

Sustainability is at the heart of Accor's business strategy

 

PLANET 21 represents Accor's commitment to being a better corporate citizen and to ensuring sustainable development at its more than 3,500 hotels worldwide. With PLANET 21, Accor places sustainability at the heart of its business strategy and makes 21 ambitious commitments to environmental and social sustainability with concrete targets for 2015. Targets include a 15% reduction in water consumption, a 10 % reduction in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions and a total ban on endangered seafood such as shark's fin from hotel menus by 2015.

 

To qualify as a PLANET 21 hotel, hotels must first fulfill certain criteria, such as installing low-flow water regulators and energy efficient light bulbs, implementing recycling programs and offering healthy meals.  After just one year, 60% of Accor hotels meet these minimum criteria, up from 24% last year.

 

To ensure continued progress towards the 2015 targets, today Accor announced a color-coded system to help monitor hotel performance. The system, based on four performance levels (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) guides and encourages Accor hoteliers as they implement more sustainability measures.

 

"A year after its launch, we have seen a positive impact of PLANET 21 on our sustainable development performance and growing involvement by our hoteliers," said Sophie Flak, Executive Vice President, Sustainable Development and Académie Accor. "At the beginning of 2012, only 24% of hotels met the high standards set by PLANET 21 and just one year later 60% of them meet at least the bronze level requirements, while 31% are certified sustainable hotels that have been validated by a third party."

 

Today's hotel guests are increasingly concerned about sustainable development issues and the PLANET 21 standards provide them with the guarantee that Accor hotels are setting new benchmarks in the field. Not only does Accor focus on environmental concerns, but the group is also committed to social issues across the globe including combating child sex tourism, providing education for disadvantaged children, protecting the cultural and historical heritage of the areas in which its hotels operate and more.

 

Accor has invested significantly in educating its staff on their sustainable development responsibilities and has already trained over 16,000 employees on environmental and social best practice using a dedicated e-learning course in eight languages.

 

 

Plant for the Planet: agroforestry projects for the hotels' local communities

 

Accor's reforestation program, Plant for the Planet, is proof of the Group's firm commitment to sustainable development and focuses on supporting local agroforestry projects around the world.

 

Over 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, Accor hotels have funded the planting of three million trees worldwide.

 

To celebrate this major milestone, Accor hotels are engaging in activities to raise awareness about the project and kick off a new ambitious phase for Plant for the Planet. Since the launch of PLANET 21, 13 new tree plantations have been inaugurated around the world, in collaboration with small local producers, bringing the total number of plantations to 19. Seven additional plantations will be launched by the end of this year.  In Asia-Pacific, there are plantation projects in India, Greater China, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, and Australia.

 

Accor Foundation at the heart of the group's societal commitment

 

For the last five years, the Accor Foundation has helped support Accor employees' solidarity projects, with a view to linking cultures and providing support for local communities. Already over 6,000 employees are involved and 151 projects have received funding, thus directly benefiting over 70,000 people in 35 countries.

 

In 2012, the Accor Foundation supported 41 new solidarity projects in which Accor employees are involved including training, humanitarian and emergency projects.

 

A long-standing commitment to child protection

 

Accor has also been involved since 2001 in pioneering the fight against the sexual exploitation of children in partnership with ECPAT[1] International. In 2012, over 30,000 employees working in Accor hotels around the world received training in how to combat child sex tourism.  To date, 36 countries have signed the World Tourism Organization's "Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children".

 

[1] End of Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes



Accor, the world's leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe, is present in 92 countries with more than 3,500 hotels and 450,000 rooms. Accor's broad portfolio of hotel brands - Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, Adagio, ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget and hotelF1 - provide an extensive offer from luxury to budget. With more than 160,000 employees in Accor brand hotels worldwide, the Group offers its clients and partners 45 years of know-how and expertise.

www.accor.com | www.accorhotels.com

 

Accor press contacts

 

Gaynor Reid

Director, Communications, Asia-Pacific

+65 6408 8888

Gaynor.reid@accor.com

 

Chris Messer

Sustainable Development & PR Manager

+65 6408 8835

Chris.messer@accor.com