Events
04/22/2010
Earth Guest Day 2010: Accor and its employees mobilize for the planet on the occasion of World Earth Day
During World Earth Day on April 22, 2010, Accor employees in the 100 countries in which the Group is active are simultaneously carrying out collective actions in favor of local development, health and the environment. This event, known as Earth Guest Day, is being organized for the fourth year running.
Plant for the Planet: 1000 hotels involved, 1 million trees financed
The Group announced that it has reached a first milestone in rolling out its Plant for the Planet initiative on the occasion of Earth Guest Day, 2010. To date, 1000 hotels have financed planting of one million trees throughout the world.
Accor has joined forces with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to support "Plant for the Planet – the billion tree campaign."
Since 2008, with its slogan "5 towels re-used = 1 tree planted", the Group's hotels encourage guests to keep their bath towels for more than one night.
Accor has committed to investing half of the laundry savings made in seven reforestation projects in different parts of the world. These initiatives, run by partner NGOs with the help of Kinomé, a reforestation specialist, are designed to bring local populations benefits on both the environmental and socio-economic plane.
With these NGOs, Accor has therefore financed planting of one million trees in seven forested regions in different parts of the world:
• In Australia, with Greening Australia
• In Brazil, with Nordesta Reforestation & Education
• In the USA, with American Forests
• In Indonesia, with the Yayasan Peduli Tunas Bangsa Foundation
• In Romania, with Mihai Eminescu Trust (MET)
• In Senegal, with SOS SAHEL International France
• In Thailand, with Plant A Tree Today
The Group's support for the “Stop talking. Start planting” initiative
For this fourth event, which is taking place on the 40th World Earth Day, Accor is supporting the communication campaign "Stop talking. Start planting", an initiative that is also a partner of the UNEP Billion Tree campaign.
This campaign, led by 132 children from 56 nations, aims to raise awareness among the general public and political leaders of their responsibility to future generations. In several large cities throughout the world, Accor hotels will offer these young ambassadors the opportunity to meet freely in their conference rooms to pass on their message to schoolchildren, guests, employees and dignitaries of the host city.
Local initiatives in favor of sustainable development
Throughout the world, Accor employees are carrying out collective local actions in support of the eight priorities of Earth Guest, the Group's sustainable development program: local development, protection of children, combating epidemics and promoting a balanced diet, on the one hand, and reducing energy and water consumption, controlling waste management and protecting biodiversity, on the other.