FAQ
Accor's involvement in sustainable development

As soon as 1974, the Accor management considered environment as « tourism’s raw material ». Twenty years later, in 1994, Accor was among the first few French corporations which had an Environment Department.

Acknowledging rising expectations and an underused ability to maximize its positive impacts on society, Accor created a fully-fledged Sustainable Development Department in 2002, which absorbed the Environment Department and extended its operations to new social issues.

In 2006, the Group’s many policies were structured through the launching of the Earth Guest program, which breaks all its social and environmental actions down into 8 priorities.

The Earth Guest program is comprised of 2 projects:

1 - « EGO », which groups together 4 priorities relating to humans:

• - Local development
• - Child protection
• - Fight against epidemics
• - Food

2 - « ECO », which groups together 4 priorities relating to environment:

• - Energy
• - Water
• - Waste
• - Biodiversity

The social commitment stems from a simple realization: the near 7 billions of human beings live in very unequal conditions. Wealth is unevenly distributed.
Through its activities in hotels and prepaid services, Accor can use important levers to improve the impact of its business. For instance, in 38 countries Accor is now capable of fighting child sex tourism thanks to training sessions organized by human resources managers. Likewise, in Africa or in Asia there is not a single month without the setting up of AIDS committees to push back the disease, for instance through tests. Another example: Accor Services, through its Ticket Restaurant® product, can impact the food offer of more than 30 countries. With its Nutrition & Balance program, which is compliant with the World Health Organization guidelines, Accor Services promotes balanced diets and fight against obesity.

The commitment for the preservation of natural resources also stems from a simple truth: the planet is not extensible, its resources are limited. However, a more and more numerous population consumes more and more to satisfy its needs, to the point that the environment is dangerously strained.
As administrators of hotels the world over, we have a responsability to improve our environmental impact: energy and water consumptions, waste production, biodiversity preservation… These are concrete subjects that require a precise management !

With 150 000 employees, 4000 hotels in more than 90 countries and millions of clients each year in hotels and services, Accor can be an efficient lever to diffuse the principles of sustainable development.

That is why Accor acts to reduce the negative impacts of its activities, and develop the positive ones, through a sustainable development policy which is embedded in the Group global strategy.

Respecting the sustainable development principles is in the interest of the planet and its inhabitants’ well-being, but it is also beneficial for the company’s durability! We firmly believe that sustainable development is a factor of performance.
For instance, if we take the example of Accor and tourism: the goal and the interest of the Group is that its hotels contribute the economic and social growth of a host country, a region or a city, so that their riches, their heritage, their culture and their nature remain at the same time valuable and durable.

Accor founded an Environment Department in 1994, published its first Hotels Environment Charter in 1998, and extended its coverage of global issues by creating a Sustainable Development Department in 2002. All these breakthroughs, and all the operations carried out since then, share a common philosophy : find the best solution for the planet, its inhabitants and our own activity.

Two examples :
1 - One of Accor’s 2010 goals is to reduce the energy consumption per room in owned and leased hotels by 10%. That is a source of financial savings!
2 - Accor encourages its outlets to commit into long-term local partnerships, in order to contribute to economic development. That allows our activities to be better integrated with local communities!

Obviously, sustainable development also implies regulatory constraints and the trend is not going to stop given the global challenges we face. Having a structured sustainable development policy enables to anticipate these constraints and to reduce to compliance costs.
For instance, the French « Grenelle de l’environnement » will lead to the banning of incandescent light bulbs before 2010. That is already one of the priority actions chosen by Accor to improve its energetic performance! Since 2006 indeed, Accor has been working to equip 100% of owned and leased hotels with energy-efficient lamps.