As an alliance our role is to unify the hospitality industry towards a more sustainable future.  We aim to propel the sector towards a state of Net Positive, where the industry not only thrives but enriches our destinations, by giving back more than it takes, across people, planet, and place (the destination).  We exist to convene the industry, collate knowledge and best practice and create an industry movement.

Today I am confident the sustainability movement is well underway, and the hospitality industry is becoming less fragmented.  We are seeing a subtle shift to a "pre-competitive" mindset where hotels and organisations are sharing learnings and best practice, including information about financing sustainable initiatives. Once, competition would be a barrier, but today our industry has woken up to the need to share best practice to meet its sustainability responsibilities.

Green financing is a crucial enabler if we are to achieve the vision of a Net Positive Hospitality industry. It can take many forms, such as grants, sustainability linked loans and reduced taxation for low carbon buildings. 

To unlock Green Finance there must first be transparency. At the Alliance we are working to increase transparency about green financing available for hotels. For example, we have a long-standing partnership with the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank group) to harness the different packages they have available, such as their EDGE programme. Earlier this year the Alliance held a 3-part webinar series on Unlocking Investment for Green and Resilient Hotels.

Information sharing is also imperative but there are challenges to this, the first of which is the industry having a global standard to identify high quality and resilient sustainability initiatives, that are worthy of investment. Data plays an important role in this.  There is regional and national variation in available green financing options, each with their own requirements and processes, making it hard for the industry to work out the best option for them. This requires clear channels of information and knowledge-sharing.

A challenge the industry is facing is the huge variety in ownership structures of hotel companies. This can cause confusion over who should finance or source finance for different solutions. It can also make it harder to access certain funds - some funds will only fund large scale investments but the fact that, while there are many big brands, within that, the ownership of industry is very fragmented and made up largely of owners that may just have one or two properties. They do not represent a big enough portfolio for many funds to view it as a strategic investment. This requires strong and transparent communication between asset owners, operators, brands, and franchisees to ensure coordinated efforts.

Finally, the industry must agree on data.  With data being essential in helping to unlock Green Finance, it is clear the industry must agree on aligning metrics and standards.  With the Alliance's groundbreaking new strategy and benchmarking framework, we are close to harmonising metrics in the hospitality industry.  This will make carbon measurement more transparent and comparable, helping hotels get easier access to Green Finance. 

These challenges can be overcome, and I am confident that as an industry we are becoming more aligned and Net Positive Hospitality is in sight.