In a significant move towards standardizing sustainability practices in the tourism sector, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) and the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance have joined forces to develop a common framework for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting.
Key Points of the Framework:
– The ESG Framework for Tourism Businesses, developed by UN Tourism in collaboration with the University of Oxford SDG Impact Lab, aims to help tourism enterprises measure and report their sustainability efforts more consistently and reliably.
– UN Tourism and the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance will work together to test the framework, refine its indicators and tools, and foster stakeholder engagement.
– The partnership comes as tourism businesses face increasing pressure to disclose their ESG actions and impacts.
– The framework is rooted in the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST), endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission with unanimous support from all 193 UN Member States.
– The Alliance’s Net Positive Hospitality Pathway and Framework is designed to harmonize metrics, develop standards, and streamline reporting within the hospitality industry, further complementing the efforts of the partnership.
The collaboration between UN Tourism and the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance represents a significant milestone for the global tourism industry.
By establishing standardized metrics and fostering greater alignment between the private and public sectors, they aim to pave the way for a more sustainable and resilient future for tourism worldwide.
Integrating With Existing Sustainability Initiatives:
The ESG framework for tourism businesses aims to integrate with and build upon existing sustainability initiatives in the hospitality sector.
The framework is rooted in the long-standing principles of sustainable tourism, which call for:
– Making optimal use of environmental resources and conserving natural resources and biodiversity
– Respecting the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities
– Ensuring viable, long-term economic operations, including stable employment and contributions to reducing poverty
By aligning ESG metrics with these established pillars of sustainable tourism, the framework provides a cohesive way for hospitality companies to expand their sustainability efforts.
The ESG framework further leverages the UNWTO’s Measuring Sustainability in Tourism (MST) framework, which organizes statistics on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of tourism
The framework also supports and builds upon existing industry commitments to sustainability, such as:
– The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, which aims for substantial emissions reductions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050
– The G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and Goa Roadmap for Tourism as a Vehicle for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
As new ESG reporting regulations emerge, like the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the UNWTO framework aims to help hospitality companies adapt these requirements to the specific needs of the sector. This allows for more consistent, comparable reporting.
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