When it comes to sustainability in hospitality, good intentions only go so far. With climate targets looming, supply chain scrutiny increasing and conscious consumers on the rise, the stakes are high, and the pressure is on for hotels and resorts to demonstrate environmental and social responsibility.
“We’re in the five-year run to 2030, which is a key deadline,” explains Dr Steve Newman, Chief Sustainability Officer at EarthCheck. “Globally, we’re supposed to be achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and most countries are not on track.”
The same urgency applies to climate targets. Under the Paris Agreement, many countries – including members of the EU – have committed to cutting emissions by 40-55 per cent by 2030.
“These targets are often driven by government incentives and regulation, but there is still a necessary contribution from businesses of all sizes, big and small,” he says.
This is especially true for tourism operators, who often rely on – and impact – the local environments and communities around them.
“In places like the Maldives, the reefs aren’t just part of the ecosystem; they’re the foundation of the tourism economy,” Dr Newman says. “The beaches themselves are created from the coral. If we want destinations like this to thrive in the future, we have to protect the natural assets they depend on – for the sake of the environment, the community and the business.”
What hotels and resorts need now, he says, is a clear, credible and practical ESG strategy.
“A strategic approach has significant value,” Dr Newman adds. “It allows you to direct the resources that you have – which are often limited, whether financial, workforce-related or simply time – toward the areas that matter most.”
A strong ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) strategy helps hotels and resorts deliver impact and build trust – not just with guests, staff, regulators and investors, but also with local communities and stakeholders. It provides the structure for transparent reporting and demonstrates a genuine commitment to progress.
Stewart Moore, EarthCheck’s Founder & CEO, agrees.
“ESG strategy is about aligning your organisation to be more competitive, more resilient and more credible,” Moore says. “If you’re not thinking about environment and social impacts as a core part of your business, you’re already behind.”
By turning intention into structured action, an ESG strategy enables hotels to set clear targets, track performance and show meaningful effort – not just well-meaning words.
In other words, it’s time to ensure your sustainability efforts are aligned with what truly matters – to your business, your community and the planet.
So, how do you begin? Here’s how to lay the groundwork.
Understand what matters to you, and to others
For Dr Newman, it all starts with materiality – the foundation of the entire process.
“It’s an accounting term,” he explains, “which basically refers to what is material to the business – what is important.” In ESG strategy, this means identifying the risks to your business (outside-in) and the impacts from your business (inside-out).
For example, a resort on the Great Barrier Reef may face external risks from climate change – coral bleaching, sea level rising, more intense storms – while also contributing to emissions through energy use, waste and supply chain operations.
“You’re looking at both how climate change can affect your ability to operate, and how your operations are contributing to it,” Dr Newman says. “It’s all relative. You might say, ‘Our little hotel doesn’t contribute much compared to a big oil company’, but the question is: relative to your other impacts, what’s most significant?”
That’s where a robust materiality assessment comes in, helping you identify the issues that matter most to your business and the people it affects. This process brings together input from internal and external stakeholders – employees, guests, suppliers, communities, even regulators – because, as Dr Newman puts it, “you can’t assume to know everyone’s opinions.”
Benchmark, assess and set targets that stick
With the issues that matter most to your business identified, the next step is understanding where you’re starting from – and where you can make the biggest impact.
“Setting those targets starts with a clear understanding of your operations, and that requires benchmarking,” Dr Newman says. “That’s where EarthCheck certification comes in, providing the tools to benchmark and measure your performance against defined baselines.”
EarthCheck certification gives businesses a clear framework to monitor and improve their environmental and social performance. Through rigorous data collection, independent auditing and a focus on continuous improvement, certified organisations can better understand and manage their impact across areas such as energy, water, waste, emissions and community engagement.
Emissions, in particular, are becoming a growing focus. A hotel’s carbon footprint may include Scope 1 emissions from on-site fuel use (like gas for heating), Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity, and Scope 3 emissions from indirect sources such as business travel, purchased goods, and services within the supply chain. Large businesses are already being asked to report across all three scopes, and that pressure is now cascading to smaller operators.
An essential part of this process is the opportunity assessment, where EarthCheck works with clients to evaluate potential sustainability initiatives based on their cost, impact, feasibility and speed to implement.
“Some actions will be low-cost and quick to implement, offering immediate wins, even if the savings aren’t substantial,” Dr Newman says. “Others may take longer and require greater investment, but they’re essential for achieving meaningful, long-term impact.”
This helps organisations prioritise actions and set SMART targets – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound – that are both realistic and ambitious.
“You’ve got a target to be net zero by 2050? That’s a great start,” he says. “But without a clear roadmap and milestones along the way, it becomes much harder to stay on track.”
He cautions against vague, marginal goals like “five per cent reduction per year” that lack accountability. Instead, targets should reflect the unique characteristics of each property and department.
“If you own multiple hotels, the one that uses the most water has the most opportunity to reduce its water use,” he says. “You can’t expect every property to deliver the same results in the same way.”
And timing matters. Leaving ESG action too late means you may need to move fast and get it right – which can be expensive. “You can only have two out of three: cheap, quick or good. So if you want it done well and leave it to the last minute, it’s going to cost you.”
Milestones, such as 12- and 24-month goals, help teams stay on track and motivated.
“It’s all about quick wins and momentum,” Dr Newman says. “If your only target is net zero by 2050, it’s easy to ignore it until 2045. That doesn’t work.”
Beyond carbon: New risks and expectations on the horizon
Hotels also need to prepare for non-traditional ESG risks – and biodiversity is quickly rising to the top of the list.
“This is a big one that almost every business struggles with,” Dr Newman says. “It’s specialised knowledge that isn’t integrated into current operations.”
In many environmentally sensitive destinations, some resorts have started to hire roles like marine biologists or launch on-site conservation programs. But across the industry, most hotels and resorts still aren’t equipped to measure, report or improve their impact on nature – and few fully understand what’s involved.
That’s starting to shift. Under the Global Biodiversity Framework, Target 15 calls on businesses to assess, disclose and reduce biodiversity-related risks and impacts by 2030, echoing the level of scrutiny now expected for carbon.
“It’s a similar approach to climate – mapping, measuring, setting targets – but it’s more spatially explicit,” he explains. “It’s not just what species or habitats are nearby, but their abundance or the quality and health of the ecosystem. You can’t just say, ‘We’re next to a rainforest’, if it’s degraded and lifeless.”
For hotels and resort operators, the road to becoming nature-positive requires not only measuring ecological impact, but also building internal capacity – and investing in partnerships with communities, researchers and conservation groups that can support long-term biodiversity goals.
Create ownership, culture and momentum
A strategy is only as strong as the people behind it. That’s why EarthCheck’s process involves building “ownership and oversight teams within management and operations” and embedding sustainability into the business strategy, not tacking it on as an afterthought.
“If your sustainability strategy is completely separate from your business strategy, it will be hard to achieve what you set out to do,” Dr Newman says.
Building a culture of sustainability requires engagement and understanding across every level of the business. From procurement to guest services, staff need to know how their individual roles contribute to environmental and social outcomes.
EarthCheck’s Biodiversity Capacity and Partnership service supports this process, delivering targeted staff training, upskilling internal teams and helping operators build meaningful relationships with external stakeholders, including NGOs and community groups.
“Not only do these projects generate scientific knowledge and improve ecosystem resilience,” Dr Newman says, “but they also provide visitors with a meaningful connection to the destinations they visit.”
ESG isn’t just for show
ESG isn’t just about reporting, though that’s an important output. It’s about real change. And it starts with integrating sustainability into the business model itself.
“There’s growing pressure on businesses to move beyond surface-level commitments,” Dr Newman says. “Unless your sustainability strategy is embedded in your business strategy, it won’t deliver real impact – and increasingly, stakeholders are scrutinising efforts for signs of greenwashing.”
Whether you call it ESG, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or simply sustainability – the terminology doesn’t matter. The outcomes do.
“Businesses can and should be vessels for positive action,” he says.
And with just a few years left to hit critical global targets, there’s no time to waste.
Ready to turn intent into action?
EarthCheck can help you benchmark your impact, set realistic targets and design an ESG roadmap that works in the real world – not just on paper.
With decades of experience in the tourism and hospitality sector, our advisors will guide you through a proven, practical process to identify what matters most, align with global goals and create change across your operations.
