Kempinski recognises that the travel industry must accelerate efforts to minimise its contribution to climate change and is pleased to have released its first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report 2021.
Reflecting on what makes the company sustainable, what successes have been achieved and where opportunity remains for innovation and improvement, the ESG report delivers a roadmap that outlines how Kempinski will approach the three pillars of ESG with a unified approach. Despite working with professional consultancies and third-party providers for many years on sustainable initiatives, Kempinski has long sought a more robust and consistent approach to ESG across the organisation.
Spearheaded by Bernold Schroeder, Chairman of the Management Board of Kempinski AG and Chief Executive Officer of Kempinski Group, in 2021, the Sustainability Committee was formed to redouble efforts and enforce a full-scale sustainability policy across all subsidiaries of the Group. Having built the governance structure for sustainability efforts across Kempinski and adopted the reporting standards outlined by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) at COP26, the initial aims were to map internal and external stakeholders, define the metrics used to evaluate internal ESG performance, strengthen existing data collection processes and incorporate new processes where necessary to report on material ESG impacts.
"Striving towards better environmental efficiencies, better social responsibility, and better governance is critical," said Hadrian Beltrametti Walker, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Interim Company Secretary, Kempinski Hotels S.A. and founder and Team Leader of the Sustainability Committee.
With the report published, the Committee's next goal is to continue the good trendline toward concrete ESG goals and targets in the upcoming months. By the end of 2022, ESG targets will be integrated with the broader corporate strategy, following extensive consultation with stakeholders from across the supply chain.
"A well-defined and target-driven approach to improving ESG impacts leads to a multitude of benefits," said Walker. "Our objectives are to identify concrete goals and targets pertaining to ESG impacts across the Kempinski constellation and to measure 100 percent of Kempinski corporate and property emissions for 2023. At the same time, we must ensure that all Kempinski stakeholders, from hotel owners and employees to suppliers and other parties, are fully onboard and understand these targets' environmental, financial and reputational benefits."
To meet these goals, Kempinski will continue to work alongside major professional partners to monitor, measure and mitigate ESG threats and enhance ESG opportunities. For example, the successful partnership with environmental benchmarking organisation EarthCheck and homegrown philanthropic initiative BE Health.
Additionally, Kempinski works with numerous third-party providers and supply chain partners on health-focused initiatives worldwide. Since the pandemic outbreak in 2020, Kempinski's long-term sustainable cleaning and hygiene product supplier Diversey has launched several initiatives, including the Linens for Life Face Mask programme, which makes life-saving face masks from used bed linen. Kempinski has also partnered with Clean the World, an organisation that transforms used hotel soap and amenity bottles from landfill and repurposes them into new soap bars and bottled products that can be distributed to communities in need, shelters and refugee camps.
In addition to the company's community outreach initiatives, Kempinski has policies and procedures that help create a diverse and inclusive workplace. In 2021, Kempinski was ranked number one in the travel and leisure industry in the Forbes World's Best Employers List 2021, testifying to its people-first approach to being an employer. Ultimately, the company hopes to see full commitment throughout its portfolio.
People tend to associate luxury with excess and waste, but according to Walker, that is a very old-fashioned view of luxury. "Certainly now and even more in the future, luxury is moving towards sustainable luxury. We have to. Not only for the sake of business but the sake of the planet."
