Whitbread pledges to cut carbon emissions by 26%

Premier Inn and Beefeater owner Whitbread, has pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 26 per cent by 2020 by introducing a range of energy saving initiatives across its 580 hotels and 375 pub restaurants.​

The hospitality company, which also owns the Brewers Fayre, Taybarns and Table Table pub restaurant brands and Costa coffee shops, launched its sustainability strategy on the day it was awarded the Carbon Trust Standard - an award given to organisations willing to measure, manage and reduce their carbon footprint - and as it unveils plans to build a second 'green' hotel in Burgess Hill, West Sussex.

Through its Good Together Sustainability Strategy Whitbread has pledged to:

• Reduce carbon emissions by 26 per cent in the next 10 years
• Divert 80 per cent of waste from its hotel and restaurant sites from landfill by 2012
• Install gas and water AMR meters to measure the output at all Premier Inn sites by 2012.
• Trial a number of energy saving schemes, such as applying solar film to hotel windows to help keep rooms cool, over the next few years.

Energy saving​

Chris George, head of energy and environment at Whitbread told BigHospitality that many energy-saving initiatives had been implemented already across Premier Inns and some of the restaurants over the last three years.

He said "I was conscious that in the hospitality industry there was no target set to reduce carbon emissions, so I started looking at what we could do in our company to save energy.

"We've looked at 30 key initiatives such as using renewable technologies and installing LED lights and are trialling lots of different ways to do it."

George said all Whitbread staff had been briefed on how they could help with the company's mission and cards detailing how guests can help save energy had been placed in every Premier Inn room.

Between 2007 and 2009 Whitbread said it saved 8,562 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of taking 2,446 cars off the road. George said he believed the company could cut its carbon emissions by 2.4 per cent over the next five years, increasing to 3.5 per cent for the next five with the new initiatives.

Whitbread chief executive Alan Parker added: "Committing to this carbon reduction target is a statement of our determination to drive down emissions and ensure that we operate as efficiently and sustainably as possible. By taking the lead, we can help our customers to make a difference and show that action on the environment is most effective when we all work together."