04 Dec 2014
Australia's largest hotel operator, Accor and Greening Australia have announced a new agreement that will see more than 50,000 trees planted over five years across Australia. As part of Accor's Plant for the Planet program, trees will be planted to support several of Greening Australia's large scale restoration projects across the country.
Chief Operating Officer Accor Pacific, Simon McGrath, said through the group's sustainable development program, Planet 21, Accor is deepening its focus on preserving the ecosystems in which its hotels operate. Plant for the Planet is a global reforestation initiative within Planet 21.
“We have taken our commitment to hotel sustainability to another level through our partnership with Greening Australia. Giving something back to restore and maintaining our precious natural habitats situated near our hotel communities is crucial, particularly as we expand our network.
“Planet 21 is as much about inviting our guests to join us on our sustainability journey as it is about engaging our employees and hotel owners to improve their sustainability performance, products and services. Through our partnership with Greening Australia we are putting large scale landscape restoration, and people and wildlife thriving together as a top priority for our organisation as we strive to leave our planet in good health for generations of hoteliers and guests to come.”
Greening Australia CEO, Brendan Foran congratulated Accor for establishing the Plant for the Planet program in Australia and abroad.
“The contribution to the Greening Australia landscape restoration work is great and will make a huge difference on the ground, in addition the information provided to hotel guests around Australia about the program will help motivate people to become involved.
“Our research and experience has shown that just about everyone wants to help, but getting involved is the difficult bit. This partnership with Accor will amplify the efforts of thousands of hotel guests, with a small contribution collectively making a huge difference,” Mr Foran said.
Three Australian landscape restoration projects set to receive a significant boost thanks to the partnership between Greening Australia and Accor hotels include:
Peel Biolinks – A biodiversity hotspot on the edge of the Perth Metropolitan area. Many plant and animal species are under threat from increasing population pressures, associated land use and a reduction in rainfall due to a shifting climate. Trees planted in the Biolink will aid vegetation and conservation within the fragmented landscape to maintain and improve the broader ecosystem across the region.
Habitat 141 - a fifty year project to restore and reconnect the iconic landscapes along the 141º longitude. This biodiversity hotspot stretches from the wild coast of South Australia, along the Victorian border, and up to the rugged rangelands of New South Wales.
Cumberland Plain Woodland – critically endangered grassy woodland in the north-west basin of Sydney. With less than 8 per cent remaining and situated in Australia's most populated region, the Cumberland Plain Woodland and its 300 native plant varieties and other threatened and endangered species are at serious risk of disappearing.
It is the small actions taken by Accor Hotels that help contribute to the important restorative environmental work carried out by Greening Australia, and guests can play an active role too. Hotel guests who re-use their towels and bed linen for more than one night help to conserve water and energy consumption, and these combined efforts can make a big difference.
In addition to supporting homegrown projects, globally Accor has made a commitment to the United Nations Environment Program's Plant for the Planet Billion Tree campaign. Around four million trees have been planted by Accor hotels to date. Members of Accor's loyalty program LeClub Accorhotels can contribute to reforestation in Peruvian Amazonia. In exchange for 2,000 LeClub Accorhotels member points, guests can enable eight trees to be planted to support the Alto Huayabamba reforestation project.
For more information, visit http://www.accor.com/en/sustainable-development.html and Greening Australia at www.greeningaustralia.org.au.
Photo captions
- Brendan Foran CEO Greening Australia and Sami Dagher General Manager Risk and Environment Accor
- Brendan Foran CEO Greening Australia, Simon McGrath COO Accor Pacific, Arnaud Herrman VP Sustainable Development Accor and Michael Vyse Southern Highlands Facilitator Greening Australia (E4295507)
- Javier Cedillo-Espin VP Communications and Loyalty Accor Asia Pacific, Arnaud Herman VP Sustainable Development Accor, Brendan Foran CEO Greening Australia, Simon McGrath COO Accor Pacific (5BA91B5C)
Media Contacts:
Ginni Post
Accor Hotels
02 9280 9874
Richard Gerathy
Greening Australia
0419 203 075
Accor, is the world's leading hotel operator, with 470,000 rooms in 3,600 hotels across 14 trusted brands in
92 countries. The company is organized around two distinct divisions, HotelServices, which operates and franchises the hotels and HotelInvest, which is a hotel owner and investor. The Accor hotels sit in three segments from budget to luxury which are constantly reinventing their concept to satisfy the needs of business and leisure customers around the globe. Accor brands include in luxury-upscale; Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery and Grand Mercure, The Sebel, midscale; Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure and Adagio and economy; ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget, adagio access and hotelF1. The Group boasts a powerful digital ecosystem, notably its booking portal accorhotels.com, its brand websites and its loyalty program Le Club Accorhotels.
The Group's 170,000 employees benefit from working for a company that believes in progression and has an industry leading training program, the Accor Académie. Since its creation 45 years ago, Accor is making innovation and sustainable hospitality the focus of its strategic vision as well as of its customer-centric approach development and innovation process.
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