HK hotel gains Green Globe Silver status

by Megan Gell    10-Sep-09, 11:49

InterContinental Hong Kong's Green Globe journey

InterContinental Hong Kong is the city’s first hotel to achieve Silver Certification from Green Globe. CEI Asia spoke to Nicholas Mak, director of engineering and chairman of the hotel’s Green Globe Committee

Why did the hotel seek Green Globe accreditation?
We wanted a management system that would ensure our sustainability objectives were met. Our target was Silver Certification (Gold is achieved after retaining Silver Certification for five years). By reaching this, guests can be confident our system has been verified by a third-party auditor.

The key benefits of Green Globe are the ability to benchmark our environmental performance indicators against industry best practices; that it is specific to the travel and tourism industry and is directly applicable to our hotel operations; and that it also covers social responsibility.

What were the key steps involved in achieving Silver Certification?
We first had to complete a Detailed Risk Assessment of the potential impacts our hotel may have on the local environment, then take action to reduce these risks. These included establishing a sustainability policy, completing a benchmarking assessment (energy and water consumption, waste and paper disposal, community commitment, cleaning and pesticide products); developing an environmental management system that defined the environmental responsibilities of hotel staff; and communication and consultation with guests, staff and major suppliers.

How was this managed and who was involved?
The hotel staff formed a Green Globe Committee to implement the Environmental Management System. We then recruited ‘Green Globe Ambassadors’, who helped ensure procedures were followed in their departments.

What were the key challenges and how were they overcome?
The main challenge was to educate staff on why it is important to participate in the Green Globe programme and to help them understand the process is continuous. To achieve this we held a Green Day to educate staff on environmental issues and how they can help by participating in the Green Globe programme and in their own lives at home.

Our ‘green’ partners operated booths that provided information and advice to staff, and we invited a local celebrity (who is also a committed environmental activist) to give a keynote speech. The energy and enthusiasm of our employees was certainly felt that day.

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