Accor AP Plants 35,000+ Trees in April; Launches Planet 21

Accor hotels and offices in Asia Pacific planted over 35,000 trees in April, marking the start of Planet 21, the hotel group’s new sustainable development program.

The launch campaign engaged employees and guests to reaffirm Accor’s longstanding commitment to sustainability, which has, for example, seen well over two million trees planted worldwide since 2008.

Accor unveiled Planet 21 globally on 12 April, making 21 commitments covering all of the group’s environmental, social and community investment actions, and setting the same number of quantifiable goals for the year 2015, including: 100% of hotels banning endangered seafood species from hotel menus; hotel employees trained in disease prevention; a 15% reduction in water consumption; and 10% decrease in energy use at Accor’s owned and leased hotels worldwide.

“Planet 21 represents the next step in Accor’s two decade-long journey toward sustainability,” said Michael Issenberg, Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Accor Asia Pacific. “With Planet 21, Accor is placing sustainability at the core of our global business strategy. We believe that Planet 21 will provide a fantastic driver of competitiveness for our brands, attractiveness for our customers and partners and loyalty for our employees.”

Accor hotels around the world celebrated the launch of Planet 21 with activities to raise awareness about environmental and social issues among guests and employees. In Asia Pacific, Accor’s 500 hotels and offices focused on planting trees to bring attention to the group’s innovative Plant for the Planet reforestation program that has, since 2008, financed the planting of well over two million trees globally.

Accor has made a commitment to plant three million trees by the end of 2012 as part of the United Nations Environment Program’s Plant for the Planet Billion Tree campaign. The program engages guests, inviting them to reuse their towels to reduce energy and water consumption: every time a towel is re-used by a customer, participating hotels pay half of the laundry savings to support one of several plantations around the world.

In total, Accor Asia Pacific teams planted over 35,000 trees in 13 countries across the region during April. Hotel managers were encouraged to think creatively to engage their employees and guests, resulting in a number of unique, educational and impactful activities.

For example, at Accor hotels in Thailand, team members dressed as trees to raise funds for reforestation projects in the country. Accor hotels in New Zealand partnered with conservation authorities to plant native species in local forests to maintain biodiversity. And Accor’s four hotels and two regional offices in Singapore planted one tree on behalf of every employee as part of a sustainable development “Amazing Race” involving only public transport.

“Planet 21 is as much about inviting our employees and guests to join us on our sustainability journey as it is about installing eco-friendly technologies in our hotels,” said Evan Lewis, Vice President, Communications, Accor Asia Pacific. “The launch of the program was an opportunity to galvanise our teams and engage our guests around the issue of reforestation, which has long been a priority for the group. The 35,000 trees planted in the region bring attention to our unique Plant for the Planet initiative, which is a cornerstone of the Planet 21 program. Accor has already planted over two million trees since 2008 and we aim to grow this number going forward.”

See other recent news regarding: Travel News Asia, Interviews, Pictures, Sports Tourism, Videos, Accor, Trees