Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry

Principles of sustainable operations

Willy Legrand, Philip Sloan, Joseph S. Chen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317426585
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry, Third Edition, is the only book available to introduce students to economic, environmental and socially sustainable issues specifically facing the industry as well as exploring ideas, solutions and strategies of how to manage operations in a sustainable way. Since the second edition of this book, there have been many important developments in this field and this latest edition has been updated in the following ways:

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• Updated content including sustainable food systems, hotel energy solutions, impacts of technology, water and food waste management, green hotel design, certification and ecolabelling systems and the evolving nature of corporate social responsibility strategies.

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• New chapters exploring environmental accounting and the internalization of externalities as well as the management of accessibility in hospitality.

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• Updated and new international case studies with reflective questions throughout to explore key issues and show real-life operational responses to sustainability within the hospitality industry.

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This accessible and comprehensive account of Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry is essential reading for all students and future managers in the hospitality industry.

1The rationale for sustainable development

Chapter objectives

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The objectives for this chapter are:

•To explore the ongoing challenges for the planet and inhabitants

•To describe the cause and effects of climate change

•To identify the reasons for the over-exploitation of minerals and oil

•To recognize the significance of water depletion on societal instability

•To discuss the consequences of over-population

•To establish the linkages between the economy and carrying capacity

•To interpret the limits of the current economic system

•To describe the challenges linked to globalization

•To explore the concept of sustainable economics

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Ongoing challenges for the planet

Humankind consumes what nature has to offer and in return creates waste and depletes the Earth’s natural reserves. All our actions have an impact on the Earth’s ecosystems that are only able to renew themselves at low levels of consumption. For many thousands of years man’s impact on the environment was negligible, however, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution all this changed. We now consume more of the Earth’s resources than the planet can regenerate; hence, the planet is in ‘ecological overshoot’. Our current consumption levels are simply too high and action needs to be taken as the planet’s non-renewable resources are being depleted, creating climate change in the process. This depletion is accelerated by the continuous growth of the world population and its changing consumption patterns.

Climate change

Proven by recent scientific evidence, the climate has been changing as a consequence of human activity during the past 150 years. Within the troposphere (the lower part of the atmosphere about 10–15 kilometres deep), there are what is known as greenhouse gases. When sunlight reaches the Earth, some of it is converted to heat. Greenhouse gases absorb some of the heat and trap it near the Earth’s surface, so that the Earth is warmed up. The most important greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO₂), CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), nitrogen oxides and methane. This process is commonly known as the greenhouse effect. Life, as we know it, exists only because of this natural greenhouse effect which regulates the Earth’s temperature. Without these gases, the surface temperature on Earth would be approximately 30°C lower. However, there is an increase in the concentration of these gases which have exceeded the amount sequestered in the biomass, the oceans and other sinks. This has led to increases in air temperatures around the globe since 1880, when modern record-keeping began (NASA, 2011) and is known as global warming. The American National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced that the 2015 earth surface temperatures were the warmest ever recorded (NASA, January 2016). Fifteen of the sixteen warmest years on record have occurred from 2001 onwards with the exception of 1998 (NASA, January 2016). In light of the data analysis, Charles Bolden, NASA administrator, stated that “Climate change is the challenge of our generation, [affecting] every person on Earth” (NASA, January 2016). The same message is broadcast by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific body established in 1988 at the request of multiple governments and under the auspices of the United Nations. The IPCC warns that “taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time” (IPCC, 2007). Consequences of climate change are multiple and beyond the scope of this chapter. However some key consequences from climate disruptions are already affecting the tourism and hospitality industry and will continue to do so. These include, but are not limited to: (1) a surge in extreme weather patterns; (2) added pressure on natural ecosystems and their role as buffers; (3) disruption in water supply and water quality; (4) unstable food supply; and (5) increase in infrastructure damage from sea level rise or extreme heat (National Climate Assessment, 2014). Scientists at the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA) projected a sea level rise of 30–120 cm by 2100 (1 to 4 feet) (National Climate Assessment, 2014). This of course is extremely serious for all nations, including many of the low-lying islands (e.g. Pacific islands such as the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, etc.), prized by tourists. However, it is the developing nations of the world that simply lack resources to respond to this form of environmental degradation. Sea water rising is certainly a challenge for the coastline towns and cities in the Netherlands but finance for adaptation is available and investment in bigger and better dams and pumping stations is common. Bangladesh, similar to the Netherlands, faces major challenges with sea water levels but lacks the means for adaptation. A 50-centimetre rise in sea level will place approximately 6 million people at risk from flooding.

Climate change and biodiversity

One reason for the losses and degradation to the world’s biodiversity is global climate change. In Europe, this translates into 25 percent of European animal species facing the risk of extinction with only 17 percent of assessed habitats having a favourable conservation status (European Commission, 2011). Most of Europe’s ecosystems are assessed to be degraded (European Commission, 2011). The same can be said about many regions around the globe. Biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides (e.g. the many benefits from ecosystems such as the provision of food or the assimilation of waste) should be protected, valued and restored. The global natural capital and the contribution to human well-being and economic prosperity is valued anywhere between US$125 trillion/year and US$145 trillion/year (Constanza et al., 2014). From a pure economic prosperity standpoint, destroying biodiversity is similar to ‘sawing off the branch we’re sitting on’.

From an environmental perspective, the distribution of species (biogeography) is largely determined by climate, as is the distribution of ecosystems and plant vegetation zones (biomes). Climate change sometimes shifts these distributions but, for a number of reasons, plants and animals cannot always adapt in time.

Beyond environmental degradation, most extinction over the past several hundred years is mainly due to over-hunting for food, fashion and profit. Over-hunting has been a significant cause of the extinction of hundreds of species and the endangering of many more, such as buffalo in the 19th century and many African large mammals. One of the best known models of commercial exploitation is the whaling industry, where whales are slaughtered for oil and meat. The fishing industry has developed exponentially as well. Larger, faster ships, sonar, better nets and other similar improvements have increased the ability of commercial fishermen to catch more fish and put the survival of species in danger. In addition, when a specific type of fish becomes rarer, its value and price increases. Consequently, fishermen have greater incentive to hunt it. It then becomes even more difficult for that species to survive unless there are yet greater benefits linked to the survival of the species. Cases in ecotourism where wildlife poachers have turned into tourist guides are there to show that trends can be reversed if the proper incentive and regulatory framework work hand-in-hand.

However, the greatest damage to marine life is the result of general environmental degradation. Most sea aquatic life is concentrated in shallow waters close to land, where marine populations that are already exploited are also more likely to be subject to heavy pollution (from pollutants dumped into the sea near the shore). Moreover, many organisms live in estuaries, the mouths of rivers and streams where fresh and salt waters mix. These areas are threatened in some parts of the world because of industrial and human waste and fertilizers washed off agricultural land that interfere with the delicate natural equilibrium of these environments. Habitat loss and degradation caused by human activity are important causes of flora and fauna extinction.

As deforestation proceeds in tropical forests, increased loss of biodiversity can be expected. All species have specific food and habitat needs, the more specific these needs and localized the habitat, the greater the vulnerability of species to loss of habitat through agricultural land and livestock enlargement and to roads and cities. Forests play an important role as they are home to 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity (WWF, 2016). Forests also act like sponges, releasing vast quantities of moisture into the atmosphere to fall as rain elsewhere and perform the vital task of absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The world’s total forest area is estimated to be just over four billion hectares (1 ha = 0.01 km², or 10,000 m²) (FAO, 2010). Deforestation is still taking place in absolute numbers of hectares, but the rate at which deforestation is occurring has decreased partly due to the large-scale planting of trees. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), “the net change in forest area in the period 2000–2010 is estimated at −5.2 million hectares per year (an area about the size of Costa Rica), down from −8.3 million hectares per year in the period 1990–2000” (FAO, 2010, xiii). Finally, forests, meadows, boglands and other habitats that are affected and divided into parcels of land by human development remain generally small and isolated and can only maintain very small animal populations at best. Any species that requires a large home range, such as the grizzly bear, will not survive if the area is too small or they roam too close to human developments.

Over-exploitation of minerals and oil resources

Materials removed from the earth are needed to provide humans with food, clothing, and housing in the process of continuous, and expected, upgrades in standards of living. Some of the materials needed are renewable resources, such as agricultural and forestry products, while others are non-renewable, such as minerals and oil. The digging of ore produces metal which is in turn transformed into parts and components found in consumption products such as mobile phones, computers and many other appliances. The demand for non-renewable resources is still on the rise. The world commodity prices rise or drop depending mostly on growth prospects in emerging countries. But commodity prices are also dependent on the economic health of a particular industry. For example, the price of platinum fell more steeply than other precious metals. The demand for platinum tends to be strong in the automobile sector and in particular for diesel vehicles which use the metal in catalytic converters. The Volkswagen (and other car manufacturers) diesel emission scandal in 2015 caused a dent in the demand (World Bank, 2016). After years of demand from China for raw materials, this is also changing. At the time of writing this chapter (early 2016), those who have invested in commodities would refer to a ‘bear’ market, where prices are falling (Economist, 2015). Arguably, it is due to a weakening global economy. For the producing countries, this translates into a loss in foreign earnings and employment. Low commodity prices also mean lower investment and lower financial returns for multinationals, whether for resource extractions or agriculture. One could then hope that more land will be made available for conservation, for example. In the short term, low commodity prices indeed mean that it becomes financially unattractive to obtain oil from the Canadian oil sands, to search for oil reservoirs in the Arctic or to develop more palm oil plantations in Indonesia. But in sustainability thinking, there is always more than meets the eye. Low commodity prices may...