Dive Brief:
- Several global hotel companies — including Marriott International, Accor, Hilton, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Radisson Hotel Group — and EcoVadis, a provider of business sustainability ratings, announced Thursday the launch of the Hospitality Alliance for Responsible Procurement.
- The alliance will work to accelerate sustainable practices industry-wide by “fostering close collaboration with trading partners to build transparency and scale positive impact across their value chains,” the announcement states.
- The launch was driven by the companies’ “commitment to improve sustainability performance,” according to EcoVadis, and comes as hospitality companies continue to push sustainability initiatives.
Dive Insight:
A goal of the alliance is to create a common voice, standard and platform around sustainability for the hospitality industry’s value chain, according to EcoVadis.
“As companies seek to engage their value chain partners in their sustainability efforts, they realize the complex scope, as well as common challenges, in their own sector,” said Richard Eyram, chief customer officer at EcoVadis. “It is through partnerships and industry-wide collaboration that the hospitality industry can maximize its collective impact.”
The alliance aims to scale up visibility across the hospitality supply chain's sustainability initiatives and strengthen supplier engagement in a bid to address challenges faced by its collective supplier sustainability programs.
Upon launch, the founding HARP members rated more than 2,000 suppliers with EcoVadis’ sustainability rating methodology, scorecards and improvement platform.
The alliance launches as hospitality organizations, including founding hotel company Marriott, have taken measures to further prioritize sustainability.
In July, Marriott released its 2023 Serve 360 Report, detailing its sustainability efforts made in the last year as well as future goals. Hyatt released a similar report earlier this year highlighting its commitments to environmental action. And Highgate put out an ESG report said to be the first of its kind by a major hotel management company.
