FAIRESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2022
“Where are we going?” “Always homeward.”
We. The flap of a butterfly’s wings. Everything is connected to everything else. But never before has that been as visible, as tangible and as apparent as it is today. CO2 from our cars and power plants, the plastic used by our consumer society and even our intellectual goods and values move around the globe. Worldwide, we are setting more and more processes in motion that are threatening to get out of hand. That’s why we need to act. Now.
Are moving. Climate change, poverty and hunger, flight and migration are issues that cannot be solved by one person, one company or one country alone. They are global issues. The mission of keeping our planet habitable can only be achieved together. The approach must be a global one and needs to be coordinated and aligned. It’s up to all of us. Politics and economics, each and every one of us – including, and indeed especially, us as a young start-up hotel company.
Forward. For our young company it is important that we agree on our route in our “big schedule”. The Agenda 2030 with its 17 sustainable development goals serves as our compass. It was adopted on 25 September 2015 by 193 heads of state or government at the UN Summit in New York. The Agenda 2030 is a “treaty about the future of the world” whereby countries pledge to ensure that everyone has a dignified life by 2030. To achieve this goal, we in Germany also need to change our way of life.
Together. The goals of the Agenda 2030, which are also our goals, are essentially:
The goals of the Agenda 2030, which are also our goals, are essentially:
- Ending poverty, hunger and inequality
- Increasing and ensuring people’s autonomy, gender equality and a good and healthy life for all.
- Promoting and building prosperity and a sustainable way of life for everyone.
- Respecting the Earth’s ecological limits, fighting climate change, preserving natural resources and acting sustainably.
- Protecting human rights, guaranteeing peace, good governance and access to justice
- Building a global partnership
Digital, sustainable, local – our contribution to the Agenda 2030
Imbuing a hotel with sustainability is a complex endeavour. The products and processes of a young hotel company like our KONCEPT HOTELS can be designed in very different, sustainable ways. To understand how we do this, it is necessary to take a look at our entire value-added process and our core concept: digitalisation. At first glance, aren’t digital and sustainable contradictory? No. On the contrary.
Using digital scope. With our digitalised hotel concept based on self-service, we create scope for investment in a holistic, sustainable operations management. Inspired by the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals which were adopted in 2015, we go beyond purely economic performance indicators when defining our company’s success.
Reinvesting cost advantages in a green way. Based on our digitalisation concept, which received the cross-sector Digital Leader Award in 2018, we optimise our processes from accounting to guest self-service. This gives us cost advantages that we reinvest in sustainability. We donate a share of our proceeds every year to our chosen charities. In addition, we opt for products which are as regional and sustainable as possible, as well as locally produced room furnishings. We also follow the “digital, sustainable, local” principle when choosing our partners and cooperating with companies who also pursue sustainability goals for their part – and have to factor it in to their product prices.
Acting fairly and responsibly. Because we link responsibility with fairness, we have called our corporate sustainability strategy FAIRESPONSIBILITY. All the sustainable efforts we make follow one big goal: as a hotel company, we want to act totally sustainably in all areas. That is why we see our many small measures as important steps along the way. We have made excellent progress with some of the 17 goals; with others we still have some way to go.
Step by step to more sustainability. Our gradual development can be clearly seen when it comes to energy. From the very beginning, we have used exclusively green electricity – with no biomass gasification. Over the years we have continually reduced our energy consumption though numerous energy saving measures. We have replaced energy guzzlers, insulated existing buildings and controlled corridor lighting with motion sensors according to demand. For most of our 17 sustainability fields we have drawn up rigorous corporate goals. As far as energy is concerned, for example, we want to bring electricity consumption in all our hotels under 7kWh per overnight stay. By 2025, we intend to produce at least 15 percent of the energy we consume ourselves.
And what’s next?
We want to show that hotels can be sustainable across the board. Sustainability is part of our corporate DNA. We want to become as sustainable as possible in all areas of our business. We quickly realised that this is not as easy in business practice as you might at first think – starting with rubbish bags made from recycled plastics to the use of chemical-free cleaning products. But at no point did this discourage us – on the contrary. We have seen that many small steps are needed, and they are worth taking – for the environment, for humanity and for the hotel of the future as a place where people can sustainably spend a lifetime. Today and in the future, we see our KONCEPT HOTELS as a part of the big picture, locally, regionally and internationally. This is because everything is connected to everything else – like the flap of a butterfly’s wings – and has an effect on everything else.
Our next project. In 2022, we want to take the next important step. We want all of our sustainability measures to be monitored and evaluated by an independent body. Our goal is to become even more transparent for ourselves in detail and for our guests as a whole. We are not interested in colourful advertising. What really interests us are scientifically substantiated data about the good that our sustainability measures are doing. We know that one’s own perspective can be deceiving, which is why a neutral, expert third party is needed who can give us meaningful results. That is why we are aiming to achieve certification by the start of 2023 in accordance with the scientifically-based and extremely tough GSTC criteria.
Our main goal: Climate-neutral by 2030
The European Union has set itself the target of being climate-neutral by 2050. Germany aims to achieve climate-neutrality by 2045. We at KONCEPT HOTELS want to be climate-neutral by 2030 at the latest.
“WE GO FORWARD TOGETHER.
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US”