Hilton Worldwide today announced an initial three-year commitment with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to reduce its impact on the environment.
As part of the partnership, Hilton and WWF will collaborate to develop a multi-year water stewardship strategy, expand Hilton's sustainable seafood efforts globally and accelerate the adoption of renewable energy. The partners also will work to further Hilton's RePurpose waste solutions program by reducing food waste within the company's operations and supply chain, and integrate all learnings into LightStay, Hilton's proprietary environmental performance measurement and reporting platform available to all hotels.
"In our business it is critical that we consider the long term impact of our operations coupled with the natural resources needed to operate our hotels and serve guests around the world," Jennifer Silberman, vice president, corporate responsibility for Hilton Worldwide, said in a statement. "Collaborating with WWF will enable us to analyze and monitor our operations as well as develop practical, scalable and impactful solutions that we can integrate into our hotel operations and guest experiences contributing to positive changes for the environment."
For nearly a decade, Hilton has worked with WWF on various initiatives, including Seafood Week in Asia Pacific and Earth Hour, a WWF initiative that unites the world around climate action. The original idea for Earth Hour was conceived during a WWF meeting held at Hilton Sydney in 2007, and for the fourth consecutive year, Hilton Worldwide hotels around the world supported the celebration of Earth Hour on March 28.
Hilton was one of the first major multi-brand hospitality companies to make environmental reporting and continuous improvement a standard for all its hotels across all brands and has earned certifications for its comprehensive quality, environmental and energy management.
In April, Hilton announced that it would begin to eliminate the use of cages for egg-laying chickens and gestation crates for breeding pigs in its global food supply chain. Initially, all hotels in the Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Canopy by Hilton and DoubleTree by Hilton brands will be required to switch all egg usage to cage-free by December 31, 2017, ensuring that chickens are not confined in cages.
Hilton also has made considerable progress in reducing its environmental footprint. Late last year, the company announced that it reduced its waste output by 26.8 percent, energy use by 13.6 percent, carbon output by 20.2 percent and water use by 13.1 percent since 2009.
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Founder, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published May 12, 2015 11am EDT / 8am PDT / 4pm BST / 5pm CEST