Rebecca Maloney
Americas Press Office ,Boston
Authored by Arup, the online environmental sustainability tool is rolling out to 4,700 IHG hotels across the world.
Arup worked in close collaboration with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to develop Green Engage™, an online sustainability system designed to help the global hotel brand monitor, reduce, and manage waste, water, and energy consumption, as well as carbon emissions. The programme, which will expand throughout IHG’s global estate beginning in January 2015, comprises more than 200 specific actions — or “green solutions” — designed to reduce the hotels’ environmental impact.
The innovative system stemmed from both a growing interest from customers in green hotel features and from a dearth of existing rating systems that could adequately address the unique needs of the hospitality industry. Together with Arup’s sustainability consultants, IHG ultimately decided that the best way to address the need for a global standard for hotel sustainability was to create one in house.
More than extensive data collection, Arup built into the programme a step-by-step implementation guide including cost and case study information, as well as a narrative to provide context for each green solution. Green Engage thus provides customised feedback for individual hotels, allowing IHG to make substantial, impactful changes to help their guests, their expenditure, and the environment simultaneously.