CARBON FOOTPRINT
SCANDIC HOTEL
Stockholm, Sweden
It is probably a bad idea to drive a Hummer to a Scandic Hotel. It is probably a bad idea to leave it idling while you run in looking for a single-packed toiletry item (which you won’t find) and an equally bad idea to ask
the staff to change your sheets every night. It is definitely a bad idea to
ask for your own hermetically sealed packet of jam at breakfast (you won’t
get it) or not to separate your trash from your recycling (because it means
the hotel has to do it for you).
It might seem like a lot to ask of guests,
but taking a hard line on some choices,
and a gentler, encouraging touch with
others, is all part of the Swedish chain’s
program to reduce its carbon emissions to
zero. The company is giving itself a little
bit of time to get there—“By 2025, we
shall not contribute to the carbon emissions at all with our operations,” says Jan
Peter Bergkvist, the vice president for
sustainable business—but Scandic is trying. And so far, its efforts are working.
Click on Scandic’s Sustainability Live
Report on its Web site ( www.scandichotels.
com) to see a delightfully graphic tally of
“the environmental savings we have made
since 1996.” For now, the company shows the numbers for four target
systems—measuring consumption levels for energy, water, unsorted waste,
and fossil carbon dioxide—a framework created by the continued on page 167
The Swedish hotel chain Scandic has instituted an ambitious program to reduce its
carbon emissions to zero by 2025. The effort includes everything from the micro
(wooden room keys, left) to the macro (energy and water consumption).
Top and bottom right, Åke E:son Lindman/courtesy Scandic Hotels; bottom left, courtesy Scandic Hotels
140
