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THE RITZ-CARLTON® STRATEGY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Sustain. Protect. Experience. These are the principles that guide The Ritz-Carlton Environmental Responsibility strategy and goals, including:

  • further reducing energy and water consumption 20% by 2020 (Energy 20 percent per kWh/conditioned m2; Water 20 percent per occupied room. Baseline: 2007);
  • increasing local and organic dining options by partnering with local farmers, growers and seafood purveyors;
  • sourcing environmentally preferred products;
  • empowering our hotel development partners to build green hotels;
  • engaging and inspiring our employees and guests in conservation efforts.

We are focused on integrating environmental sustainability throughout our business, including architecture and construction, hotel operations, and procurement. A comprehensive set of initiatives and practices are in place, designed to reduce energy use, water consumption and waste, while database and monitoring systems help us to track consumption and monitor progress against goals.

Guest Experience

We ensure the guest experience reflects our commitment to environmental responsibility through multiple avenues including: our linen and terry refresh program; our Ritz Kids program created in collaboration with Jean Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society; our sustainably-sourced seafood program; and our Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary managed golf courses. Our partnership with Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment offers guests the unique opportunity to learn more about the diverse ecosystems and cultural traditions that exist around our hotels and resorts.

Reducing Our Footprint

At each property, we have in place a multi-discipline, Ritz-Carlton Environmental Action Conservation Teams (REACT). The teams utilize a framework of environmental strategies to identify sustainability projects within their individual property and work together to make changes and improvements that benefit the environment. To help our REACT and property leaders accomplish energy and water reduction goals, we use Energy and Environmental Action Plans (EEAP), a comprehensive, best practice audit tool. The EEAP covers a range of items from corporate re-use policies to simple best practice behaviors for lighting; appliance; heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); and central plant conservation and efficiency.

We have deployed a global program to calculate carbon footprint, water footprint, waste diversion, and energy intensity at our hotels and resorts around the world. All Ritz-Carlton Hotels are activated in the Green Hotels Global tool which provides information on environmental practices in categories such as energy, water and waste management, supply chain, environmental policies and certifications. This platform details and presents the environmental metrics and practices of each hotel in our portfolio. In addition:

  • We have implemented innovative systems that lesson the environmental impact and cost of our laundry operations by reducing the temperature and amount of water required in our laundry operations, also reducing CO2e emissions by reducing the energy requirement for laundry operations by 20%
  • All hotels in the Americas have installed sub-meters and weather-adjusted reporting for irrigation and cooling tower consumption
  • We work collaboratively with our U.S. waste and recycling partners to audit our waste streams, reduce the tonnage that must be transported to landfill, and divert waste from landfill through recycling and waste food composting.
  • We collaborate with Clean the World®, a nonprofit that collects partially used soaps and other hygiene amenities. The partially used soap is sanitized and distributed to communities in need around the world and the hygiene amenities are recycled for use in the production of fiber-optic cable.
  • We collaborate with our suppliers as part of our overall environmental strategy. Our focus in supply chain engagement is the development of innovative products and programs to deliver superior performance and meet our sustainability goals.

Learn more about The Ritz-Carlton® Strategy for Environmental Responsibility

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