Many hotels claim to be eco-friendly.
But are they?
A fast-and-easy test is to search for two items, said Sonu Shivdasani, founding father of Soneva and Six Senses hotel brands.
First, sustainable hotels shouldn’t have branded water of any sort, he told CNBC Travel.
“When you might have incredible filtered water, and where the faucet water is pretty pure in most countries on the earth … there is not any must have any type of branded water,” he said.
Not only does this reduce single-use bottles, however it’s healthier too, he said.
“There are quite a number of brands of water that could be quite toxic, because they’re in areas where there’s type of chemical pollution,” he said. Plus “plastic bottles are a carcinogen. You’ll be able to imagine … that plastic bottle … sitting in a store for 2 or three months, getting hot and roasting.”
A greater, cheaper option for hotels is to purify tap water and add electrolyte minerals, akin to sodium, potassium and chloride, he said.
Next, check for toiletries in plastic bottles, which Shivdasani called “silly.”
“One should really buy in bulk containers, and then you definitely refill in ceramic bottles,” he said.
But that is really the bare minimum, said Shivdasani, who sold Six Senses in 2012.
He now focuses on Soneva’s three hotels: two within the Maldives and one in Thailand, plus one other — Soneva Secret — set to open on a distant atoll within the northern Maldives in 2024.
The resorts serve guests produce grown on-site, rely partly on solar energy and recycle 93% of generated waste, said Shivdasani, who was awarded the 50 Best Hotels inaugural “Icon Award” for responsible luxury tourism in September.
‘Ecology is economy’
Shivdasani rejects the concept that operating sustainably is costlier.
“Ecology is economy,” he told CNBC Travel.
By relying more on solar energy than diesel fuel, he said, Soneva resorts will get monetary savings in the long term.
“Our bankers are very supportive of us doing it,” he said. “The payback on this investment is about 4 and a half years.”
By making charcoal using fallen branches, Shivdasani estimates his company saves $20,000-$30,000 per yr. Plus, on-site gardens deliver about $10,000 a month of vegetables — at market prices — into each resort, he added.
But Shivdasani doesn’t dispute that sustainability — at this level — is harder.
“It’s actually not easier. However it’s more interesting,” he said. “It’s tougher, however it’s actually much, way more fulfilling.”
A 2% environmental levy
Because the tourism industry adopts more sustainable practices, one query stays: Who pays for it?
“Governments can create the context, but businesses must make the change,” Shivdasani told CNBC Travel. “We will try this by making small changes to the way in which we do business that doesn’t affect our profitability, but which might have a big impact on people well beyond our shores.”
Nearly 80% of travelers can pay at the very least 10% more for eco-friendly travel, despite the cost-of-living crisis, in accordance with a Euromonitor International report published in August.
Soneva Fushi, a resort within the Maldives where Shivdasani said he and his wife, Eva, live about half of the yr.
Source: Soneva
Shivdasani said he decided to institute a guest environmental levy after the corporate measured its “scope 3” emissions.
“I didn’t know what scope 3 CO2 emissions were,” he said. “Scopes 1 and a couple of are like the sunshine bulbs, the air-conditioning … scope three is externalities outside the property [like] guests flying in, supplies coming in.”
Firms often fall wanting reporting scope 3 emissions, said Kelvin Law, an associate professor of accounting at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University who researches corporate sustainability and financial fraud.
“Missing one out of three reporting scopes may not look like an enormous deal — however it is,” he wrote for CNA, since they account for the lion’s share of most firms’ emissions. “Leaving out scope three emissions reporting is akin to solving a jigsaw puzzle without the most important piece — the image is rarely complete.”
Shivdasani said that after Soneva determined that 85% of its carbon emissions were “scope 3” emissions, the corporate introduced the two% carbon levy. That was in 2008.
“That is why we said we needed to do something about it,” he said.
Small changes
The levy has generated about $12 million for The Soneva Foundation, a British charity founded in 2010.
The revenue has been used to revive forests in Thailand, fund a 1.5 megawatt windmill in India (“giving the local people subsidized energy”) and to purchase stoves in Myanmar and Darfur, Sudan.
“The cookstoves has been a unbelievable investment,” he said adding that they not only reduce CO2 emissions but additionally decrease firewood expenses and the chance of lung disease. The latter causes an estimated 3.2 million deaths per yr, including some 230,000 children under the age of 5, in accordance with the World Health Organization.
Furthermore, the stoves have created a carbon surplus, he said.
“We now have two million surplus carbon credits, which is price about $20 million,” he said.
The credits — which currently sell for $10-$15 each on the open market — are certified after which purchased by firms, akin to Marks & Spencer, which use the credit to fulfill their very own carbon reduction goals, he said.
The Soneva Foundation is reinvesting that cash, using it to plant 1 million trees in Nepal and Mozambique each, amongst other projects, he added.
“It is a small change, however it’s had this fantastically growing impact,” he said.
