Top hotel owners and investors flock to the EEA Summit to discuss the surge in ESG regulation
As if the pandemic and acute labour shortages were not difficult enough for the hospitality industry, environmental regulation could soon prevent hoteliers from renting rooms if their buildings are not sufficiently energy efficient. Added to this, hotel investors are now closely scrutinising the environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards of the assets in which they invest; and hotel managers are under unprecedented pressure to demonstrate improvements in sustainability.
In this context and with hotels being one of the most energy intensive uses of real estate, hotel owners and leaders from the public and private sector will be gathering at the EEA Summit on 28th March at the Westin City Hotel, London to discuss how the intense focus on ESG is forcing substantial change on the way hotels will be financed, evaluated and managed.
Right now, ESG standards are largely unregulated, voluntary, self-assessed and cherry picked. However, rapid change is coming; and they will soon become regulated, mandatory, accounting-based and audited, with new ISSB standards expected as soon as June. The initial focus is on the biggest companies and funds with an emphasis on documenting ESG risk. However, the impact will rapidly percolate down as the largest investors rebalance their portfolios, with some seeking to position themselves as accessible to green finance. The EEA is rapidly being seen as the go-to organisation facilitating discussion about how hospitality will manage this transition.
Moderated by Dr Marc Lepere, who leads on ESG and Executive Education at King’s Business School, the EEA Summit agenda will cover trends in the global economy and energy markets, the surge in ESG regulation, changes to planning law, new sustainability accounting standards, shifts in hospitality investment, performance measurement of hotels, circularity, and wider political influences. The format will include a mixture of keynote presentations, panel discussions, audience Q&A and networking.
High-level speakers, drawn from the private and public sector, include:
- Luke Baines, Partner, Addleshaw Goddard
- Hadrian Beltrametti Walker, EVP & General Counsel, Kempinski Hotels S.A
- Franck Bermond, Vice President Construction & ESG Referent, AccorInvest
- Ed Birkin, Founder and CEO, Ignite Economics
- Gillian Charlesworth, CEO, BRE
- Ben Chivers, Partner, Technology & Commercial Transactions, Travers Smith
- Adam Dawson, Sustainability Manager, La Salle
- Asif Din, Sustainability Director, Perkins & Will
- Catherine Dolton, Chief Sustainability Officer, IHG Hotels & Resorts
- Chris Evans, Partner, Hamilton Pyramid Europe
- Karen Friebe, Head of International Hotels & Hospitality, Bird & Bird LLP
- David Ford, Director of Energy Markets, Businesswise Solutions
- Paul George, Commercial Manager, EV & Infrastructure, Drax
- Josh Gibbons, Construction Managing Associate, Addleshaw Goddard
- Janine Guillot, Special Advisor to the Chair of ISSB
- Ufi Ibrahim, CEO, Energy and Environment Alliance (EEA)
- Shravan Joshi MBE, Chairman of the Planning & Transportation Committee, City of London
- David Kellett, Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investments, Europe, Invesco
- Tiffany Kelly, Founder, Beyond BamboomGlobal Youth Award Winners
- Asli Kutlucan, Chief Development Officer, Cycas Hospitality
- Dr Marc Lepere, Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer, ESGgen Ltd & Lead in ESG & Sustainability, Executive Education, King’s Business School
- Bryan Oknyansky, AIA, Sustainability Champion, Studio Moren
- Ben Patton, Head of Real Estate Debt, Federated Hermes
- James Pomeroy, Global Economist, HSBC
- Sue Pritchard, CEO, Food Farming & Countryside Commission
- Soraiya Salemohamed, Sustainable Property Development & Operations, 4C Group
- Dr Sabine Schaeffer, Co-Founder & CEO, Europe, Pro-invest Group
- Nico Schouten, Built Environment Team Lead, Metabolic
- Alice Strevens, Associate Director Human Rights and Social Impact, Mazars & Chair, EEA Social Impact Committee
- Lord Robin Teverson, Environment Spokesperson, House of Lords
- Caroline Tiveus, SVP, Director of Sustainable Business, Pandox
- Rekha Toora, Senior Vice President – EMEA Capital Markets at JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group & Chair, EEA Capital Markets Committee JLL
- Laura Ulrich, Vice President Renewable Power and Transition Group, Brookfield
- Tim Wheeldon, Managing Director, Zeal Hotels & Zeal Projects
It’s truly a great privilege to be hosting the 2023 EEA summit once again at our hotel, The Westin London City. Right now, the enlightened players in the hospitality industry understand that ESG is an important issue; however, there is a lack of clarity about what the tangible interventions are, and what we should be doing in practice. So, I am incredibly grateful to the EEA for its efforts to bring hotel owners, investors and financiers together to enlighten us and to help shape the future for our industry. Al-karim Nathoo, CEO, 4C Group
The regulatory landscape governing ESG and the capital markets is evolving quickly. At the EEA Summit, we will be analysing incoming rapid changes and we will equip our members with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions now on ESG, CAPEX and OPEX investment. Ufi Ibrahim, CEO, EEA
To register for the EEA Summit, please hit reply to this email ([email protected]) and send us your full name, job title and publication.
For more information about the Summit visit: https://www.eea.international/eea-summit-2023/.
To download the full programme, click here.
Conference Sponsors include: 4C Group, City Air Technologies, JLL, and drax Electric Vehicles.
Conference Supporters include: Beyond Bamboo, Businesswise Solutions, Perkins&Will, Studio Moren, Questex, Quintex, BREEAM, and Room to Reward.
About the Energy & Environment Alliance (EEA)
The Energy & Environment Alliance (EEA) is a not-for-profit coalition of hospitality investors, developers, asset managers and operators, working as a collective to transition the industry to Net Zero Carbon and ESG stewardship in a scientifically robust and commercially sustainable way.
