EarthCheck’s certification benchmarks and assesses a variety of sustainability factors including energy, water, paper and chemical usage, carbon emissions, waste and community and employee impact.
The team at Grand Hyatt Melbourne are using Hyatt’s global sustainability software Hyatt EcoTrack to measure and monitor the hotel’s sustainability performance.
Sustainability initiatives in place at the property include replacing plastic toothbrushes and combs with items made from biodegradable cornstarch, sending used hand soap to the Soap Aid program, no longer wrapping slippers in plastic, working with hotel suppliers on responsible sourcing of produce and food items and partnering with food waste management company Bardee, which turns food waste into sustainable products.
The hotel also sponsors two rescue beehives, with bees being essential for maintaining biodiversity and crop growth.
“We are incredibly proud to be the first Hyatt hotel in Australia to achieve EarthCheck certification,” said the property’s general manager, Fredrick Arul.
“This recognition is a testament to our ongoing commitment to sustainability and responsible tourism.
“At Grand Hyatt Melbourne, we believe in taking meaningful steps to reduce our environmental footprint while continuing to provide exceptional experiences for our guests.”
The hotel will remain at silver level certification with EarthCheck for another three years, providing it continues bettering its sustainability performance.
Like other major hotel groups, Hyatt has set 2030 sustainability targets, although they are not as ambitious as some of their competitors. Hyatt is aiming to reduce its absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 27.5 per cent compared to 2019 by 2030. Hyatt is also working towards reducing food waste to landfill or incineration by 50 per cent by 2030.
In contrast, IHG Hotels & Resorts has set a goal to achieve 46 per cent absolute reduction across Scopes 1 and 2 and some Scope 3 carbon emissions, however the company’s chief sustainability officer, Catherine Dolton, said last month the brand was not on track to meet the target.
Meanwhile Accor has eco-certified 200 of its properties across Australia and New Zealand with either Ecotourism Australia or Qualmark.
