EEA Sustainability Symposium, Enabling Actionable ESG Data
Cristina Blaj
Enabling Sustainable Asset Growth - Founder of Open Revenue Consulting - Sustainability, Commercial and Profit Strategy Leader, EMEA, Funnel TV Global Advisor - 15+ years experience impacting business models
What an incredible time we’ve had at the EEA Sustainability Symposium this week in London!
Many congratulations to the Energy & Environment Alliance team: Ufi Ibrahim, David Tarsh, Dr Marc Lepere for a truly visionary event!
The ESG pyramid of priorities
With a? lineup of speakers as sharp as it gets, the EEA Symposium created the opportunity for hospitality leaders? to unlearn things and learn new ways of understandings? the ESG pyramid of priorities. ?
From a broader?context of compliance and? what it means for hospitality to? how? we embed ESG data into our investments,
it raised a? clear alarm bell of the need to protect the value of our assets, and foremost avoid the risks of stranding assets by dropping their? value right down if they? are not? ESG proofed.
IFRS and a Global ESG Standard
A clear highlight was the need for convergence of ESG standards and frameworks to a single global standard that can create? a common language to address the ESG goals across every jurisdiction and rationalise the global fractured reporting landscape. This is now the mission of IFRS Foundation .
ESG - Feeding Strategy with Data
From the broader ESG context? we moved right down into the ESG? #STRATEGY and how we can Feed Strategy with Data, pondering on the role of technology to source audit grade data, to automating the collection and validation of the data , and the use of? AI? in analysis and pattern identification to enable hands on monitoring of resource consumption and cost controlling. ?
David Kellett , Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investments Europe, Invesco EMEA
Aidan McNulty Chief Revenue Officer, Omnevue
Nagadarsan Suresh , Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials
Ross Petar Head of EMEA Operational Real Estate Value and Risk Advisory, JLL
Nordics stood out in their advancements of the Sustainability roadmap in the global scheme of Sustainability.? Young Ngoc Nguyen the Founder of d2o | Hospitality Performance Management Technology - a strategic partner of the Energy & Environment Alliance, talked about how d2o was built on the sustainability legacy for the past 25 years, and how it democratised? access to ESG data with? a? clear focus on? the Planet and the bottom line of hotels.?
It does this through the use of technology which connects into the daily activity of the hotel to capture the consumption of every single resource and by applying predictive models - it determines whether the consumption in the hotel is? aligned with the revenue forecast in every profit center. ? This enables hands on control? of the consumption highlighting? misalignments which need to be addressed and fosters complete transparency across the entire organization.?
In the breakout session we heard d2o present the case of Strawberry (formerly Nordic Choice Hotels ) one of the largest hospitality companies in the region? and how it helped Strawberry take a systemic approach by integrating ESG into the very backbone of the entire operation to set clear ESG goals and distribute the 'E' goal? into manageable? targets at hotel level, making the goal relevant for each head of department to observe and control the consumption using leading indicators and a best practice bank for each resource.
This enabled complete transparency for Strawberry to the point that it informs the consumer in real time what the Sustainability rating of each hotel is in the branded website.
The move from managerial ESG data to daily and hourly data
To make a meaningful impact on the climate change and control our consumption we need to transition from managerial type of data (aggregated monthly figures reporting) to ?bringing data in on? a daily if not hourly basis, that’s when you start seeing correlations to identify outliers that you can tackle as #Overconsumption. This means tackling CO2 emissions on scope 1, 2 and 3 across each resource Energy, chemicals, water, waste, food waste, towels and linen.
Bringing? in real time data can also bring the employee and guest satisfaction? into the ESG picture.
ESG data linked to loans and refinancing - a Total Profit Picture
Another clear example of ESG data made actionable is Pandox (a leading hotel property company in Northern Europe which creates value? through long-term, revenue-based leases and active ownership in over 160 hotels).
Caroline Tivéus talked about? how Pandox? brings the d2o PMI GO Green Index to the banks to link it to loans and refinancing.
At the outset of the project Pandox not only achieved transparency in data but also reached 10% increase in energy efficiency, which amounted to considerable savings.
It is clear that when you? transform ESG data into financial metrics connected to the P&L, it? communicates a much clearer incentive to drive? stakeholders? engagement and shift the approach to Sustainability -? from #risk to #opportunity.?
The real take away from this targeted Symposium is that caring is just not enough? to drive #SUSTAINABILITY we need to change behaviour!
The Banks will have a key role in driving the change as they need to reduce their scope 3 emissions? (which represent 80% of an organisation’s emissions).
Thank you all for the invaluable input into this event which I trust will propel the progress on the Sustainability roadmap for the hospitality industry!
Cristina Blaj
d2o Senior Consultant, CEO of Open Revenue Consulting