Iberostar Hotels & Resorts has published the ‘2023 Year in Review’ report detailing the company’s progress towards its sustainability goals.
The Mallorcan hotel group thus reflects its achievements in circular economy, blue foods, nature-based solutions, climate action and destination stewardship.
Gloria Fluxà, vice president and chief sustainability officer of the Iberostar Group, remarked that “our commitment to responsible tourism guides us on a transformative journey. Successful implementation of our vision requires a 360-degree approach, integrating sustainability into all our processes, adapting to the needs of nature and mitigating risks. An example of this is nature-based solutions, such as restoring coral reefs or mangroves to mitigate the impact of hurricanes.”
“These types of collaborations can help develop proactive solutions, collaboration with local governments can address important infrastructure challenges, and engaging local communities fosters holistic tourism. Through collective collaboration, our goal is to inspire positive change to create a future where people and the environment thrive,” he added.
Emissions reduction and green hydrogen commitment
Iberostar is moving towards carbon neutrality by 2030, a milestone it aims to reach twenty years ahead of the global target set by the industry. Thus, in 2023, compared to 2019, it has managed to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 12% globally: 6% in the AME region and 32% in EMEA.
Along these lines, the hotel chain has also reduced its energy consumption (kWh) by 6.5% compared to 2019, a particularly positive percentage in the EMEA region, where it amounts to 6.64%. Hotels in Montenegro (12.72%), Morocco (10.97%) and Canary Islands, Spain (8.18) have achieved the highest reductions thanks to the 
implementation of best practices in hotels and key investments.
Electrification is another cornerstone of Iberostar’s strategy, as it contributes to both energy efficiency and decarbonization in operations, due to higher efficiency of heat pumps compared to boilers.
From 2023, the company has achieved that its three hotels in Montenegro and one in Spain will be 100% electric. In addition, as an intermediate step towards full electrification, eight hotels globally have also been partially electrified this year.
Less waste for landfill
By 2023, the hotel chain has worked to reduce the overall percentage of waste in its hotels. More specifically, thanks to the 3R teams and various initiatives, the company managed to reduce waste destined for landfill by 56% compared to 2021.
The data in the report published by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts highlight a new achievement in line with the goal of ensuring that 100% of the fish and seafood served in Iberostar hotels is responsible, having already achieved 83% of it, five points above last year’s data.
It is the result also contributes to the broader goal of promoting environmental stewardship in the seafood sector, where the company works with fishing teams in specific destinations to achieve a sustainable local approach. One such example is Aliança Kirimurȇ in Brazil.
Eight coral nurseries for the conservation of environments.
Iberostar incorporated two new coral nurseries in the RD in 2023. Thus, the company now has eight nurseries: four in that country, three in Mexico and one in Jamaica. This is an advance with which the hotel company wants to continue studying the behavior and adaptation of these living beings to climate change and establish a genetic bank of coral species.
Likewise, since the restart in 2021 of its mangrove restoration program, the company has planted more than 16,100 mangroves of different varieties. In addition, the hotel group has continued to implement local initiatives and collaborations to promote dune restoration in Mexico.
Source: Arecoa.com
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