The recently released CHSB Index 2023 by the Cornell Center for
Hospitality Research brings encouraging news for the global hotel
industry. The report highlights a remarkable reduction of over 30% in
hotels' carbon footprint between 2019 and 2021.
The CHSB Index is the largest and longest-standing benchmarking tool
in the hotel industry, covering energy, water, and carbon performance.
It enables hoteliers to evaluate their performance and helps
stakeholders assess environmental impact. The CHSB 2023 is the first
post-pandemic benchmark, with participants from 646 geographies
worldwide, including major hotel brands, operators, and owners.
Linda Canina, the Dr. Michael Dang Director of the Center for
Hospitality Research at Cornell University's Peter and Stephanie Nolan
School of Hotel Administration, stated, "We are pleased to offer the
updated CHSB Index free of charge, furthering the Center for Hospitality
Research's mission to increase the volume of high-quality research to
support the hospitality industry, with CHSB allowing hoteliers to
understand the range of energy, water, and carbon performance globally."
The CHSB Index 2023 reveals intriguing disparities in carbon
intensity among countries. Norway emerges as the leader, with hotels
demonstrating the lowest carbon intensity at 13.5 kg of carbon emissions
per square metre.
On the other hand, hotels in Hong Kong, China, exhibit the highest
carbon intensity at 214.5 kg CO2e/m2. Interestingly, countries with low
carbon intensity do not necessarily have the lowest hotel energy
intensity. For instance, hotels in Austria achieve the lowest energy
intensity at 134.5 kilowatt hours per square metre. Moreover, the data
indicates that limited-service hotels consistently outperform
full-service hotels in terms of energy and carbon intensities,
suggesting a potentially faster rate of decarbonisation for these
establishments.
However, the global decrease in hotel occupancies due to the residual
effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has had an unintended consequence.
Water usage intensity has increased significantly, with a 20.2% rise in
water consumption per occupied room in 2021 compared to 2019. This surge
in water usage is primarily attributed to heightened hygiene and
sanitary practices during the pandemic, regardless of occupancy rates.
Eric Ricaurte, CEO of Greenview and co-author of the CHSB Index,
spoke about his enthusiasm of the increasing support from the
hospitality industry for this initiative. Over the years, the number of
CHSB participants has grown substantially, with over 25,000 contributors
in 2023 compared to less than 5,000 in 2014. This growing support has
enabled extensive data analysis and utilisation, thanks to the
collaboration of more than 30 companies involved in the initiative.
The ten countries with the lowest carbon intensity or energy intensity for hotels are:
Carbon emissions per square metre
- Norway
- Sweden
- Costa Rica
- Switzerland
- Lithuania
- Austria
- France
- Brazil
- Slovak Republic
- Colombia
Energy per square metre
- Austria
- Colombia
- Morocco
- Vietnam
- Portugal
- Peru
- Argentina
- Sweden
- Malaysia
- Mexico
The CHSB Index is available to download free of charge here.