Annual Report 2015 - Corporate Responsibility - page 46

46
RESPONSIBLE COMMITMENT
Environmental sustainability
Sustainability Agreements and Collaborations
In 2015, NH Hotel Group in collaboration with
PlasticsEurope put into operation a project entitled
“Your Look Changes the World” with a view to
promoting “zero plastics to landfill”. This project is
enabling NH Hotel Group to carry on implementing
responsible practices in our activities, thereby
helping to raise awareness about the need for our
customers and our staff to act in a sustainable way.
NH Hotel Group is part of the “Spanish Green
Growth Group”, a sound public-private collaboration
platform whose aim is to jointly progress in the fight
against climate change and towards implementing a
Low-Carbon economy.
In 2015, NH Hotel Group sponsored the Sustainable
Luxury Awards granted by Instituto de Empresa, as
well as Sustainable Brands Barcelona.
• NH Hotel Group collaborated with Nearly Zero
Energy Hotels (neZEH), an organisation that, in
collaboration with the World Tourism Organization
(WTO), encourages and proposes specific solutions
for hotel owners in the EU who wish to turn their
hotels into nearly-zero-energy establishments, thus
helping the hotel industry to progress towards an era
when hardly any energy is used, which together with
the efforts made by the EU, contributes to reducing
CO
2
levels.
Singular sustainability activities at hotels
NH Hotel Group hotels develop actions consistent with
the Company’s sustainability vision, focusing on the
local environment and the promotion of sustainability
among its customers.
In 2015 Hesperia Villamil signed a collaboration
agreement with La Xarxa d’Hotels Sostenibles de
Balears, adhering to the agreement reached with the
Calviá Hoteliers Association and participating in pine
reforestation initiatives in areas affected by fires and
seabed cleaning activities. The hotel also joined the
deseasonalised Sports Programme “Paguera Sport
Region”, which is aimed at promoting the destination
through sports and the respect for and preservation
of the environment.
Hesperia Tower sponsored the first edition of
the Event Management Sustainability Forum
(EMS ’15), the first training and networking event
ever held in Spain for the events and congresses
segment aimed at managers of private companies
or other organisations. It also collaborates with
partners such as Ephymera (sustainable events
consultants) and JMT Ambiplan (sustainable
furniture providers).
Customers at NH Conference Centre Sparrenhorst
were taught all there is to know about bees by the
hotel team, who look after a hotel-beehive, whose
honey production (10 to 20 kg in 2015) is used in
the kitchen and given to special customers as a
gift.
In keeping with the Company’s commitment to
looking after biodiversity in the areas where its
hotels are located, NH Collection Barbizon Palace
and NH Berlin Alexanderplatz have installed
urban kitchen gardens on their rooftops that help
preserve biodiversity in the towns and cities where
they are located and provide fresh produce that
is served as part of the gastronomic offer at the
hotels’ restaurants and bars.
Earth Hour 2015
For the seventh year running, NH Hotel Group
joined the World Wildlife Fund’s global initiative
“Earth Hour”, in which the Company’s hotels
took part by switching off their outside lighting
for one hour, considerably reducing their energy
consumption and CO
2
emissions.
Furthermore, numerous activities were organised
to involve the customers in this campaign against
climate change: special candle-light menus, urns
for sharing wishes for the planet, social media
contests, etc.
NH Collection Plaza Santiago
Santiago de Chile, Chile
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