Two-weeks of negotiations in November 2015 led to the Paris Agreement. The culmination of 20 years of discussions, concessions and compromises. Is the Paris Agreement an important document to the hospitality industry? Without a doubt. Science-based targets driving the industry decarbonisation efforts are based on the 2°c (1.5°c) threshold as per the agreement.

COP26 in Glasgow will see countries submitting new or updated targets which is an integral component of the Agreement. A good time to take stock of how much (or little) has been achieved since 2015. Despite the pandemic, the International Energy Agency predicts that emissions are on course to surge, reversing the 2020 decline (-5.8%) due to the pandemic [1, 2]. No wonder many are asking: when are we going to get it right? [3].

It is with desperation that reports [4, 5] are published indicating that some large, global corporations with proclaimed climate commitment, are actively impeding stricter legislations (on fuel, carbon etc.) through lobbying. Regulation is a core component (as many argued and discussed here a few months ago: Sustainability-driven legislation: setting the right conditions for hospitality?) to ensuring a level-playing field as it is sending a decisive message that climate emergency must be dealt with, with all tools we have available.

For hotel development and operations, it is a mixed bag which can actually lead to new opportunities. In the bag are the regulatory and transition risks for inefficient assets, imminent carbon market systems for buildings, a decreasing costs of capital for sustainability-driven investment and access to cheaper technologies (e.g. market for photovoltaic).

So from your stance, experience and position, why is COP26 important? Why should our industry care? There has been talk also in this panel (see The (Green) Recovery Imperative: Hospitality Re-Set Or Bouncing Forward?) about post-COVID-19 green recovery. Is this happening and can COP26 foster this somehow?

Celine Vadam
Celine Vadam
Founder & CEO of WE(i) Think

We tend to associate sustainability in the hospitality industry with the building side of things and how efficiencies in construction and operations can help reduce carbon emissions. However, the spectrum of the hospitality impact on sustainability is much wider and touches communities, landscape, agriculture, protection of local resources. In that more holistic concept, and taking an optimistic view, the COP26 associated with the UN SDGs offers an interesting framework for the hospitality industry to improve and embrace the leadership role it should have in the global economy.

With the lives that it touches as guests, employees and communities and its socio-economic and environmental impact, the hospitality industry has a role to play in spreading and implementing the COP26 message and action points. There is a space for hospitality champions to play a crucial role in their respective country to push forward and maintain the momentum after the COP26, making sure that goals are set and objectives reached.

Destinations are the attractive point of our industry. Communities are our workforce. Food is what nourishes our guests. Buildings are our shelters. Caring for these elements is caring for the future of the industry, its perennity and legacy to the generations to come. Despite the frustrations, supporting the COP26 is an important tool in helping our planet and enforcing governmental action.

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