Odran Lucey, executive chef at the Rose Hotel in Tralee, Ireland — Photo by Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality (CTH)

Odran Lucey, the executive chef at the Rose Hotel in Tralee, Ireland, has become the first person in the world to successfully complete a brand-new qualification for Environmental Sustainability Management in Hospitality.

Fifty Shades Greener (FSG) and the Confederation of Tourism & Hospitality (CTH) joined forces in late 2021 to create the first Level 4 (Level 6 in Ireland) certificate in environmental sustainability management in hospitality. This is the first qualification of its kind to be regulated as an official qualification on the Ofqual framework of education.

Raquel Noboa, CEO of Fifty Shades Greener explained: “Reducing carbon emissions should be something that becomes paramount in our daily routines if we really want to provoke a mind-set change. Environmental education is key to driving this transformation and the general education system has a responsibility to not only prepare learners for the world of work, but provide them with the skills to influence employers, politicians and the wider society. This can be achieved through teaching learners how to measure, manage and monitor carbon emissions – when you do not measure something, you cannot manage it.”
Engaging with the programme in 2021, Odran implemented an environmental management system at the Rose Hotel with many different reduction initiatives including: Changing all bulbs to LED across the Hotel, installing sensor lighting, replacing seals in all windows, collaborating with a local garden centre to utilise disposed of coffee, provide training to all employees, forming a green team and actively monitoring their utilities and CO2 every month.

So far, the Hotel has achieved a reduction of energy of 16% and food waste by 26%.

Odran commented: “When undertaking the FSG programme, while somewhat aware of the environmental issues we face, I was completely unaware to what extent our business was contributing to some of these issues. As the course progressed and we began completing the workbooks, we immediately saw areas where much improvement could be made, from an environmental and financial perspective.”

By embedding environmental sustainability skill sets into our hospitality colleges, we will prepare our youth for the jobs the marketplace will need now and in the future. Most importantly, it will assist with government targets to reach NetZero by 2050.

The labour market needs people with the skills to measure, monitor, and reduce carbon emissions in the workplace. Sue Duke, Head of Global Policy and Economic Graph at LinkedIn says that they have seen a 70% increase in Customer Service job roles requiring three or more ‘green skills’. Also, those people who have green skills are recruited 1.5 times faster than those who don’t. Additionally, ‘Green Talent’ is likely to be 2-3 times better connected on LinkedIn than people without green skills. These trends are only set to increase in the years ahead.

Thanks to KWETB (Kildare Wicklow Educational training Board) over 200 Irish Hospitality and Tourism businesses in Ireland have availed of the Green Business programme by Fifty Shades Greener.

This fully funded Green Business programme helps businesses realise significant savings on their energy, water, and waste costs, and with this new qualification their appointed Green Manager can avail of this important recognition and qualification.

For further information get in touch by emailing [email protected] or [email protected].

About the Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality - CTH

Over the last 30 years, CTH has focused on developing and adding value to careers globally in the Hospitality, Culinary & Tourism industries. Established in 1982 as a specialist professional awarding body, our mission is to focus on the training needs of new entrants and existing industry professionals. We now have a network of over two hundred Approved Teaching Centres worldwide delivering industry-relevant CTH qualifications to thousands of new students each year.