In line with the Singapore Green Plan 2030, the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) have just announced the launch of the Hotel Sustainability Roadmap, setting out clear targets and strategies for hotels to adopt in their sustainability journey.
The roadmap is also endorsed by the Hotel Sustainability Committee (HSC), which comprises members from the hotel industry as well as representatives from the public sector and was set up in March 2020 to drive industry-wide adoption of sustainability practices in hotels to promote Singapore as a sustainable destination.
1. Targets
There are two main targets that SHA and STB hope to achieve through this roadmap. The first one is for hotels in Singapore to start tracking their emissions by 2023 and reduce them by 2030, with a view to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Then, they want 60% of hotel room stock in Singapore to attain internationally recognised hotel sustainability certification by 2025.
Furthermore, through the roadmap, STB and SHA envision a hotel industry that integrates sustainability as a core value across the entire hotel ecosystem, is established as a living lab and uses sustainability to drive business competitiveness and growth and is recognised as a leader in environmental sustainability in the region.
2. Focus areas
STB and SHA have also identified 4 focus areas to ensure that hotels’ sustainability efforts drive impactful environmental outcomes and provided suggestions on how to improve these aspects:
- Water Conservation: implementing smart water meters, reverse osmosis water recycling for laundry facility, water efficient toilet fit outs in guest rooms;
- Waste Management, Recycling and Circular Economy: artificial-intelligence (AI) powered food waste management solutions, food digestors;
- Sustainable Sourcing and Procurement: in-house farms, locally-sourced produce, assessing vendors based on certification/sustainable practices;
- Energy Conservation: district cooling systems, solar panel technology, smart energy meters, trigeneration plants.
3. Strategies
The plan lays out four strategies and related initiatives to help hotels achieve the targets.
Raise sustainability standards and strive towards internationally-recognised sustainability certification by:
- Tapping on STB funds such as the Business Improvement Fund to support sustainability initiatives that improve competitiveness and productivity, which may put hotels in a better stead to seek sustainability certification subsequently;
- Leveraging on SHA’s Hotel Technology Directory to source for sustainability solution providers, and the Hotel Sustainability Playbook to reference best practices, success cases and outcomes;
- Creating new sustainability jobs by tapping on STB’s Training Industry Professionals in Tourism grant to build capabilities and train staff to take on these roles;
- Participating in SingapoReimagine Global Conversations, a thought leadership series that convenes influential business leaders and industry spokespersons to share perspectives on travel in the new pandemic environment, including emerging travel trends such as sustainability.
Testbed and adopt innovative sustainable solutions by:
- Identifying sustainability-related problem statements and organising innovation challenges to develop sustainability solutions in the identified areas;
- Partnering Enterprise Singapore through the Sustainability Marketplace to showcase a suite of sustainable solution providers to be matched with hoteliers. This provides a platform for hoteliers to be introduced to green and sustainable solutions that can enhance their business operations;
- Partnering innovative tech providers to co-develop sustainability-related industry pilots through programmes such as the Singapore Tourism Accelerator by STB.
Develop sustainable hotel concepts and experiences in Singapore by:
- Developing innovative and best-in-class sustainable guest experiences with STB’s support via the Experience Step-Up Fund;
- Facilitating business matching with relevant partners, such as farm to table dining experiences and upcycling workshops.
Raise awareness of the industry’s sustainability efforts and promote sustainable consumption habits amongst hotel guests by:
- Actively incorporating sustainability into corporate values and business operations;
- Supporting consumer education and encouraging hotel guests to adopt sustainable consumption habits;
- Plugging into STB’s destination marketing efforts to position Singapore as a top sustainable and innovative urban destination.
