Seoul – The joint partnership between the Korean private sector and Australian company EarthCheck came to fruition after Coex – South Korea’s top convention and exhibition centre and the venue for the G20 Seoul Summit – had successfully benchmarked with EarthCheck.
The partnership is a result of an agreement which involves the Korea Business Council for Sustainable Development (KBCSD) and EarthCheck; the world’s largest environmental management system in use by the travel and tourism industry. The agreement incorporates the establishment of a public-private partnership on sustainable tourism, which will help South Korea boost its competitiveness as a tourism destination and raise public awareness of the benefits of sustainable practices.
Global Leaders Align
Comprised of chief executive officers of enterprises that share a vision for economic development that is in harmony with environmental preservation and social development, KBCSD members include corporate heavyweights such as; GS Caltex, Samsung, Ernst & Young, LG Electronics, KIA Motors and POSCO.
EarthCheck is the world's largest environmental management Program used by sustainable travel and tourism industry. It was developed by the world’s largest not-for-profit research centre into sustainable tourism; the Australian Government-funded Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre.
The Program leverages some $260 million worth of academic research and contains more than a decade of industry benchmarking data. It is already used by more than 1000 organisations in over 70 countries; including tourism leaders such as ACCOR, Langham Hotels International, InterContinental Hotels Group, Banyan Tree and Six Senses.
Demonstrating High Standards of Performance
The Republic of Korea understands that in order to succeed, there is a need to measure and monitor performance, identify areas for sustainable improvement and promote and recognise good commercial practice.
The nation recognizes there exists a global need for consistency and comparability across country and sector; especially when it comes to financial and emissions reporting. Information collected needs to be harmonized and baselines created to facilitate destination planning.
In-keeping with the national vision of a ‘Low-Carbon, Green Growth’, KBCSD is working closely with the Korean Government concerned with a view to adopting the EarthCheck methodology and approach as an internationally-recognised scientific solution to underpin their national program.
“As part of new growth engines for the low-carbon future, the Korean government aims at increasing the market share of green tourism from 20% in 2008 to 25% in 2014. The Korean business sector also strives to build a strong business case and marketing opportunities for green tourism. In light of this, KBCSD believes that our alliance with EarthCheck will ensure that Korean businesses are internationally evaluated in the course of achieving meaningful sustainability performances,” said Sonia Hong, Secretary-General of KBCSD.
EarthCheck provides a framework to increase operational efficiencies, maximise the benefit of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, and minimise environmental impacts. Having been in market for almost 13 years, the EarthCheck infrastructure and internationally recognised standards will benefit Korea, which will white-label it for their own travel and tourism industry, associated infrastructure, communities and business clusters of associated service industries.
It is hoped that the adoption of the Australian program will help promote more cooperative projects between the two nations, encourage corporate investment for national economic growth, and lead to job creation.
“We are delighted to have signed a Strategic Alliance agreement with The Korea Business Council for Sustainable Development (KBCSD),” said Stewart Moore, CEO of EC3 Global. “Korea has shown strong leadership in this region by being proactive with this initiative.”
Early Signs of Success
Last week, it was announced that Coex – venue for the G20 summit – had successfully benchmarked with EarthCheck. Located in the World Trade Center Seoul and boasting Asia’s largest underground mall, Coex is sprawled across a staggering 190,386 square meters. With over 2,500 different events staged at the venue each year, Coex has the ability to significantly influence the MICE sector in South Korea.
More than 35 million people – almost double the entire population of Australia – visit Coex and surrounding facilities each year. Yet, despite this massive volume of foot traffic, Coex has managed to become a pioneer in Korea’s green growth industry. In fact, Coex exceeded Best Practice levels in energy efficiency and water conservation, as well as other important areas of sustainable business operations.
Although the EarthCheck Program was developed for the travel and tourism industry, it has also been successfully applied to schools, communities, business clusters, green buildings, infrastructure and even the manufacture of consumer goods such as beds. It will certainly be interesting to watch how broadly Korean business takes up the Program and encourage others to take up sustainable practices.
EDITOR’S NOTES
The Korea Business Council for Sustainable Development (KBCSD) is a business association comprised of chief executive officers of enterprises that share a vision of putting Korean industry on track to economic development in harmony with environmental preservation and social development. KBCSD, which also serves as a focal point of ‘Green Growth Business Dialogue’ under the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, is an umbrella institute of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) as well as a regional partner of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
The Coex Center is a vibrant city landmark located in the heart of Seoul's bustling downtown business district. In addition to the convention and exhibition center, Coex hosts an array of on site tourism and transportation amenities, including Asia's largest underground mall, three 5 star hotels, Seoul's only city air terminal, two popular performance theaters, and more than 100 restaurants featuring cuisines from every corner of the globe. Coex also boasts first class catering services and an extensive, award winning green operations program, guaranteeing that your event’s attendees can enjoy the highest service in a modern, globally conscious environment. Learn more at www.coex.co.kr/eng
EarthCheck is the world's largest environmental management Program in use by sustainable travel and tourism operators. With more than 1000 clients in over 70 countries, EarthCheck responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet; including climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management. It provides benchmarking, certification and performance improvement systems that result in average savings of 30 per cent for energy and waste stream, and 20 per cent savings for water consumption. Learn more at www.earthcheck.org or www.sustainabletourismonline.com
For further information please contact:
KBCSD
Chai-Un Hahn
Senior Researcher
P: +82 2 3465 0692
E: chaiun@kbcsd.or.kr
W: www.kbcsd.or.kr
Coex
Sonia Hensley
International Marketing Coordinator
P: +82 2 6000 1121
E: marketing@coex.co.kr
W: www.coex.co.kr/eng
Showing posts with label earthcheck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earthcheck. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Langham Hotels International Forges Partnership with EarthCheck
Hong Kong – Langham Hotels International has forged a partnership with EarthCheck; the world\'s largest certifier of sustainable travel and tourism operators. The deal will result in all Langham and Eaton properties upgrading to EarthCheck so that they align with international standards of best practice.
The companies are no strangers to one another as The Langham, Auckland first certified using EarthCheck science, back in February 2008. Since then, it has held the prestigious EarthCheck Silver Certification for two years running, while Eaton Hotel Kong Hong and Langham Place Mongkok, Hong Kong are pending Silver Certification Audits later this month.
Langham recently decided that all its properties will now benchmark with EarthCheck and aim for a minimum certification level of Silver. This is in direct response to the need to address major environmental challenges such as climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management.
“Environmental advocates and stakeholders are calling on companies to demonstrate the role they must play in climate change mitigation and policy development,” explains John Dick, Vice President – Eaton Hotels International and the group environmental champion for both Langham and Eaton hotels. “This is reflected in the number of companies that are reporting on their policies and engagement efforts in response to new regulations including the Green House Gas (GHG) Protocols.”
The EarthCheck Approach
EarthCheck’s science-based approach is considered at the forefront of sustainability management systems. It should be, when you consider it was developed by the world’s largest not-for-profit research centre into sustainable tourism – the Australian Government-funded Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre.
The Program also leverages some $260 million worth of academic research and contains more than a decade of industry benchmarking data. More than a thousand operators already use EarthCheck, and which provides them with a framework to increase operational efficiencies, maximise the benefit of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, and minimise environmental impacts.
There’s a growing awareness within the travel and tourism industry that for a certification scheme to actually mean anything, it must:
• Include standardised scientific reporting that is consistent and comparable across country and sector;
• Minimise financial and reporting burdens by using one centralised ICT reporting platform;
• Harmonise information collection to a common metric; and
• Create baselines of ‘high environmental integrity’ to enable responsible forward planning.
The EarthCheck scientific benchmarking system and certification programs are based on all of these requirements and this ensures Langham and Eaton properties will remain at the forefront of sustainability.
For Langham, brand recognition and credibility in market are also important.
“As the sustainability movement has evolved, so have the number of misleading environmental claims and operators who are misusing industry-developed labels to influence consumer behaviour,” states John Dick. “Schemes that can be accused of this include those with no common benchmarking criteria, no year-on-year performance expectations, no scientific reporting or international standards, and no 3rd party verification.”
Langham Hotels Across the Globe Align with EarthCheck
Langham’s alignment with EarthCheck provides the company with a means to reduce operational overheads without compromising the guest experience. Where some “green” labels espouse the marketing benefits of displaying yet another badge, EarthCheck remains focussed on quantitative reporting and risk evaluation, whilst identifying areas for operational savings.
The global luxury hospitality group has arguably become one of the best examples of how sustainability policies can be practically and consistently applied across a multi-national business. Typical savings are in the region of 25 per cent, with levels of savings varying between each property according to its operational footprint.
Langham has opted for a companywide strategy to ensure a consistent approach is applied across the group and help them identify key milestones. To date, some of their best practice ratings include; The Langham, Melbourne who benchmarked 56.1% better than Best Practice Level for Potable Water Consumption; The Langham, Auckland who came in 33.8% better than the Best Practice Level for Potable Water Consumption and 22.2% better than the Baseline level for Waste Sent to Landfill.
The companies are no strangers to one another as The Langham, Auckland first certified using EarthCheck science, back in February 2008. Since then, it has held the prestigious EarthCheck Silver Certification for two years running, while Eaton Hotel Kong Hong and Langham Place Mongkok, Hong Kong are pending Silver Certification Audits later this month.
Langham recently decided that all its properties will now benchmark with EarthCheck and aim for a minimum certification level of Silver. This is in direct response to the need to address major environmental challenges such as climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management.
“Environmental advocates and stakeholders are calling on companies to demonstrate the role they must play in climate change mitigation and policy development,” explains John Dick, Vice President – Eaton Hotels International and the group environmental champion for both Langham and Eaton hotels. “This is reflected in the number of companies that are reporting on their policies and engagement efforts in response to new regulations including the Green House Gas (GHG) Protocols.”
The EarthCheck Approach
EarthCheck’s science-based approach is considered at the forefront of sustainability management systems. It should be, when you consider it was developed by the world’s largest not-for-profit research centre into sustainable tourism – the Australian Government-funded Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre.
The Program also leverages some $260 million worth of academic research and contains more than a decade of industry benchmarking data. More than a thousand operators already use EarthCheck, and which provides them with a framework to increase operational efficiencies, maximise the benefit of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, and minimise environmental impacts.
There’s a growing awareness within the travel and tourism industry that for a certification scheme to actually mean anything, it must:
• Include standardised scientific reporting that is consistent and comparable across country and sector;
• Minimise financial and reporting burdens by using one centralised ICT reporting platform;
• Harmonise information collection to a common metric; and
• Create baselines of ‘high environmental integrity’ to enable responsible forward planning.
The EarthCheck scientific benchmarking system and certification programs are based on all of these requirements and this ensures Langham and Eaton properties will remain at the forefront of sustainability.
For Langham, brand recognition and credibility in market are also important.
“As the sustainability movement has evolved, so have the number of misleading environmental claims and operators who are misusing industry-developed labels to influence consumer behaviour,” states John Dick. “Schemes that can be accused of this include those with no common benchmarking criteria, no year-on-year performance expectations, no scientific reporting or international standards, and no 3rd party verification.”
Langham Hotels Across the Globe Align with EarthCheck
Langham’s alignment with EarthCheck provides the company with a means to reduce operational overheads without compromising the guest experience. Where some “green” labels espouse the marketing benefits of displaying yet another badge, EarthCheck remains focussed on quantitative reporting and risk evaluation, whilst identifying areas for operational savings.
The global luxury hospitality group has arguably become one of the best examples of how sustainability policies can be practically and consistently applied across a multi-national business. Typical savings are in the region of 25 per cent, with levels of savings varying between each property according to its operational footprint.
Langham has opted for a companywide strategy to ensure a consistent approach is applied across the group and help them identify key milestones. To date, some of their best practice ratings include; The Langham, Melbourne who benchmarked 56.1% better than Best Practice Level for Potable Water Consumption; The Langham, Auckland who came in 33.8% better than the Best Practice Level for Potable Water Consumption and 22.2% better than the Baseline level for Waste Sent to Landfill.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
EarthCheck Launches Sustainability Library to Help Business Managers
EarthCheck Launches Sustainability Library to Help Business Managers
Message: The world’s largest sustainable tourism certification program EarthCheck, today announced the public release of a series of a library of free sustainability fact sheets, voluntary carbon offsetting information sheets and case studies. Filling a gaping void, these documents reveal the operational savings made by some of the world’s leading hotels and conferencing venues, which have implemented sustainability measures.
The reference materials were jointly developed by EarthCheck and the University of Queensland; providing a timely resource for business considering offsetting their emissions or looking to improve their triple bottom line.
The materials demystify matters such as renewable energy, water consumption, energy efficient air conditioning and green procurement. Each fact sheet includes real industry examples; complete with capital investment costs, operational savings and the overall return on investment.
\"We expect these resources to help business managers better understand the benefits of sustainable practices,\" explained Stewart Moore, CEO of EarthCheck. \"Although they\'ve been developed for the travel and tourism industry, they\'re of benefit to the wider community as well, as they help clarify the benefits of using an environmental management system that provides benchmarking and offers transparency through independent, third party audits\".
The PDF documents may be downloaded from www.earthcheck.org/en-us/wp/library.aspx
EDITOR’S NOTES
EC3 Global is the world\'s largest certifier of sustainable travel and tourism operators. With more than 1000 clients in over 60 countries, the company’s EarthCheck Program responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet, including climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management. It provides benchmarking, certification and performance improvement systems that result in average savings of 30 per cent for energy and waste stream, and 20 per cent savings for water consumption. Go to www.earthcheck.org
For further information please contact:
EarthCheck
Chantal Dunbar
EC3 Global Communications Manager
P: +61 401 058 159
E: chantal.dunbar@ec3global.com
W: www.earthcheck.org
Message: The world’s largest sustainable tourism certification program EarthCheck, today announced the public release of a series of a library of free sustainability fact sheets, voluntary carbon offsetting information sheets and case studies. Filling a gaping void, these documents reveal the operational savings made by some of the world’s leading hotels and conferencing venues, which have implemented sustainability measures.
The reference materials were jointly developed by EarthCheck and the University of Queensland; providing a timely resource for business considering offsetting their emissions or looking to improve their triple bottom line.
The materials demystify matters such as renewable energy, water consumption, energy efficient air conditioning and green procurement. Each fact sheet includes real industry examples; complete with capital investment costs, operational savings and the overall return on investment.
\"We expect these resources to help business managers better understand the benefits of sustainable practices,\" explained Stewart Moore, CEO of EarthCheck. \"Although they\'ve been developed for the travel and tourism industry, they\'re of benefit to the wider community as well, as they help clarify the benefits of using an environmental management system that provides benchmarking and offers transparency through independent, third party audits\".
The PDF documents may be downloaded from www.earthcheck.org/en-us/wp/library.aspx
EDITOR’S NOTES
EC3 Global is the world\'s largest certifier of sustainable travel and tourism operators. With more than 1000 clients in over 60 countries, the company’s EarthCheck Program responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet, including climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management. It provides benchmarking, certification and performance improvement systems that result in average savings of 30 per cent for energy and waste stream, and 20 per cent savings for water consumption. Go to www.earthcheck.org
For further information please contact:
EarthCheck
Chantal Dunbar
EC3 Global Communications Manager
P: +61 401 058 159
E: chantal.dunbar@ec3global.com
W: www.earthcheck.org
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