ESG in the hospitality industry is looking less like a one-off reporting task and more like a continuous data management process. A hotel is an organization where multiple environmental, social, and governance areas intersect. Find out if you have data you can trust and how technology helps build a competitive advantage in the HoReCa sector.
Table of contents
- 1. ESG in hospitality doesn't start with a report
- 2. A hotel's carbon footprint is much more than just energy
- 3. Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 in the hospitality industry
- 4. The hospitality sector already has its own measurement methods
- 5. Scope 3 and the importance of data in the MICE segment
- 6. The biggest problem is often not the lack of data, but its fragmentation
- 7. NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint: From hotel data to a reliable carbon footprint
- 8. NEOGAGE ESG – A broader perspective on reporting
- 9. From reporting to management
- 10. FAQ – ESG in hospitality
- ESG in hospitality doesn't have to mean another spreadsheet
1. ESG in hospitality doesn’t start with a report
An ESG report is the final outcome of a much longer process. First, you need to determine what data is required, where it is located, who is responsible for it, and whether it can be compared with data from previous periods.
For a hotel, this may mean combining information from multiple sources: energy invoices, accounting systems, ERP, procurement, administration, HR, waste documentation, and information provided by suppliers.
Even if an organization does not prepare a comprehensive ESG report, it may be asked for specific data by corporate clients, banks, owners, investors, or partners higher up in the value chain. That is why ESG is increasingly becoming an element of daily management and B2B relations, rather than just a reporting obligation.
2. A hotel’s carbon footprint is much more than just energy
In the hospitality industry, the first association with emissions is very often energy. This is natural. Heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, SPAs, swimming pools, kitchens, and laundries can account for a significant portion of energy consumption.
However, an organization’s carbon footprint does not end with the electricity bill. A hotel should also analyze fuels, transport, purchases, materials, waste, business travel, outsourced services, and emissions related to the activities of suppliers and partners.
Therefore, even a very high share of renewable energy does not automatically mean that we already know the organization’s full carbon footprint. A comprehensive picture of emissions is needed.
3. Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 in the hospitality industry
According to the GHG Protocol approach, an organization’s emissions are analyzed in three scopes:
- Scope 1 covers direct emissions, e.g., resulting from fuel combustion at the hotel or the use of an owned fleet.
- Scope 2 relates to indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heating, or cooling.
- Scope 3 encompasses all other indirect emissions in the value chain, including purchased goods and services, transport, business travel, waste, and supplier activities.
Scope 3 is very often the most demanding element of the calculations. Not because the equation itself is particularly difficult. The real challenge is obtaining and organizing the right data. You need to know where a given value comes from, which category it should be assigned to, what emission factor to apply, and whether the same process can be replicated next year.
4. The hospitality sector already has its own measurement methods
The hospitality industry is not starting its decarbonization process from scratch. One example is the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI), a methodology developed for hotels to measure and report emissions related to property operations.
This shows an important direction for the industry’s development. A mature approach to ESG is increasingly based on comparable data, clear methodologies, defined information sources, and a repeatable process. Environmental actions themselves – such as installing solar panels, reducing plastic, or replacing lighting – remain important. However, they do not replace measurement. Only measurement allows you to evaluate which actions actually deliver results.
5. Scope 3 and the importance of data in the MICE segment
The impact of ESG on the corporate and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) segment is particularly interesting. Companies organizing conferences, training sessions, and events increasingly want to know their environmental impact. To calculate the carbon footprint of an event, they need data not only from their own organization. They also need information from the hotel, carriers, and other suppliers.
A good example in the market is Hotel Arłamów, which in its first Sustainability Report showed both the results achieved and the areas planned for further development, including a more comprehensive approach to Scope 3.
This demonstrates that carbon footprint data can be valuable for more than just reporting. It can also become a part of the hotel’s B2B offering and a competitive advantage in negotiations with corporate clients.
6. The biggest problem is often not the lack of data, but its fragmentation
A hotel may already have most of the information needed to calculate its carbon footprint. The problem is that it is scattered across different places.
Energy invoices are in accounting. Fuel data – in administration. Purchases – in the ERP. Waste – with the waste management operator. Employee information – in HR. Data from suppliers appears in Excel sheets, attachments, or emails.
With a small amount of data, you can try to manage it manually. However, as the scale of the process grows, questions begin to arise:
- Where does this value come from?
- Who changed it?
- Which emission factor was used?
- Will next year’s data be calculated in the same way?
And this is exactly where a spreadsheet ceases to be a convenient tool for managing the entire process.
7. NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint: From hotel data to a reliable carbon footprint
NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint was designed to work with the emission data of the entire organization. It is not a simple CO₂ calculator. It is an environment that allows you to structure the process from data collection through analysis to reporting.
The system enables, among other things:
- conducting Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 inventories,
- mapping the structure of the organization and individual units,
- utilizing recognized databases of emission factors,
- analyzing emission sources,
- monitoring trends and intensity indicators,
- comparing consecutive reporting periods,
- gathering data from suppliers and partners,
- planning and monitoring reduction activities,
- preparing reports compliant with the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064.
As a result, the hotel does not have to recreate the entire process from scratch every year. Data can remain in one structured environment and be utilized in subsequent reporting periods. This is especially crucial in organizations with multiple properties, departments, or data sources. NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint also holds quality confirmation in the form of the TÜV NORD “Proven Product” certificate.
8. NEOGAGE ESG – A broader perspective on reporting
The carbon footprint is one of the key elements of ESG, but it does not cover the entire scope of reporting. That is why NEOGAGE ESG operates alongside NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint.
The system supports broader management of environmental, social, and governance data, as well as the preparation of reporting compliant with the VSME standard. It allows you to centralize information, control data completeness, analyze KPIs, maintain a history of changes, and prepare a report for further use by clients, banks, or other stakeholders.
In practice, both solutions address different needs:
- NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint – when an organization wants to calculate, analyze, and manage emissions.
- NEOGAGE ESG – when it wants to streamline the broader ESG reporting process.
9. From reporting to management
The most mature approach begins when the report ceases to be an end in itself. The CO₂e result alone does not tell you what to do next. Much more important are the following questions:
- Where are the most emissions generated?
- What changed year-over-year?
- Which actions are yielding results?
- Where is the greatest potential for reduction?
- Is the data well-prepared enough for reporting or subsequent verification?
That is why it is worth moving from one-off calculations to continuous carbon footprint management. NEOGAGE allows you to combine data, calculations, analysis, reporting, and reduction activities into a single process. As a result, ESG can become not just an obligation or a project conducted once a year, but a real tool supporting the hotel’s business decisions.
10. FAQ – ESG in hospitality
What does ESG mean in the hospitality industry?
ESG in hospitality covers how a hotel manages its environmental impact, social issues, and corporate governance. In practice, this can involve energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste, employees, suppliers, safety, and the way the organization is managed.
Is every hotel required to prepare an ESG report?
Not every hotel is directly subject to reporting obligations. However, even organizations without such an obligation may be asked for ESG data by corporate clients, banks, investors, owners, or other companies operating in their value chain.
How do you calculate a hotel’s carbon footprint?
The process begins with defining the organizational boundaries and collecting data on energy, fuels, transport, purchases, waste, and suppliers. The data is then assigned to the appropriate Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 categories and converted using the correct emission factors.
What is the difference between Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3?
Scope 1 covers the organization’s direct emissions, Scope 2 covers indirect emissions related to purchased energy, and Scope 3 covers all other indirect emissions occurring in the value chain.
Why is Scope 3 difficult to calculate?
The biggest challenge is usually obtaining the right data from multiple departments, suppliers, and partners. The data may appear in various formats and require assignment to the correct categories and the application of appropriate emission factors.
Is Excel enough to calculate a hotel’s carbon footprint?
With a small amount of data, a spreadsheet may be sufficient in the initial stages. However, as the number of sources, suppliers, locations, and reporting periods increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain consistency, a history of changes, and the repeatability of the process.
How can NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint help a hotel?
NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint allows you to collect and organize emission data, calculate Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3, work with emission factors, analyze trends, compare periods, acquire data from suppliers, and prepare reports all within a single environment.
What is the difference between NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint and NEOGAGE ESG?
NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint focuses on calculating, analyzing, and managing the carbon footprint. NEOGAGE ESG covers a broader range of environmental, social, and governance data and supports reporting compliant with the VSME standard.
Can ESG data be important when serving corporate and MICE clients?
Yes. A corporate client may need hotel data to calculate the carbon footprint of a conference, meeting, or business trip. The ability to quickly provide structured information can therefore also support B2B cooperation.
Does the system help prepare data for audit or verification?
Yes, a well-structured system helps preserve data sources, the calculation methods, the factors used, and the information history. This makes it easier to prepare materials for subsequent verification or audit, although the system itself does not replace an independent auditor.
ESG in hospitality doesn’t have to mean another spreadsheet
The more data you need to collect, the more important its quality, source, and reusability become.
NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint helps you move from fragmented data to a structured process of calculating, analyzing, and managing emissions. NEOGAGE ESG expands this process to include broader ESG reporting.
As a result, data can be used not only for report preparation, but also for decision-making, cooperation with business clients, and planning further reduction activities.
Discover NEOGAGE Carbon Footprint and NEOGAGE ESG and find out how to organize ESG data in your organization.