Urging the hospitality industry to step up in 2023, Robert Godwin, the Founder of the world’s first whole life net zero hometel, room2 Chiswick, and Managing Director of Lamington Group, encourages the industry to stop and think before making our new year’s resolutions this year and instead take part in Sustainuary (sustainable January) to make more mindful business decisions in 2023. As part of Sustainuary, Robert shares his five top tips on what other businesses can do to promote sustainability, not just in January, but for the whole year.

It is crucial for businesses to step up and lead the way in 2023, in order to reach net zero by 2050, as was called for in the Paris Agreement. Sustainuary is just one small step towards this goal and companies have a responsibility and opportunity to inspire other businesses, employees and customers.

Here are Robert’s five key steps for hospitality businesses to action this Sustainuary:

1)    Measure – The first place to start is to know where you stand by measuring your baseline greenhouse gas emissions, including both direct Scope 1 emissions, and indirect Scope 2 and 3 emissions. Many different consultants and platforms are available to support your business on how to approach this, such as The Business Climate Hub.

2)   Reduce – Having a clear strategy and target is always crucial in business, and this also applies to emissions. It is important to set a clear target to reach net zero by or before 2050 and create a realistic and ambitious pathway to reducing emissions. This can be done by signing up to science-based targets to align with a 1.5-degree warming, as well as applying some quick wins such as switching to a renewable energy provider, turning down the thermostats and draught proofing as well as longer-term options such as installing solar panels and installing air or ground source heat pumps.

3)   Communicate and empower – It is important to clearly communicate your goal both internally and externally. Initiatives such as our Team Planet approach is a gamified way to engage and motivate employees to be more eco-minded by increasing competition and improving engagement through introducing bonuses and benefits based on individual and team effort in becoming more sustainable.

4)   Offset – Unfortunately some emissions are unavoidable, and you can offset these through certified offsetting programmes. This can however be phased out by prioritising carbon removal. Lamington Group recommends the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting.

5)   Report – It is important to be transparent through your entire process, so emissions should regularly be reported to show progress and identify future opportunities to reduce your emissions. Only large businesses are currently required to report their emissions, but as small and medium-sized companies make up 99.9% of the UK’s business population it is necessary to share your journey and encourage others*.