BUSINESS NEWS rcity and IT’s carbon footprint were among issues highlighted in London last week. Ian Taylor reports


Majorcan hotels take part in project to cut water use


Water scarcity is an increasing issue in many destinations, but a study in Majorca found four out of five hotels had no idea how they used the water they consumed. Mireia Delgado, business director


at Majorca-based sustainability and health and safety consultancy Preverisk, which works with hotels and operators, said: “We’re starting to experience water scarcity in Majorca. This is not a problem of the future. It’s a current problem.” She noted water consumption


by tourists “can be four times the average domestic consumption” and reported on a pilot H2Otel project with a group of three, four


Mireia Delgado


‘Consumers value price and their experience over sustainability’


and five-star hotels in Majorca to gauge their water use. The hotels knew how much


water they consumed, but more than 80% did not know how, she said. So, Preverisk installed flow meters to measure the use, finding 9% went to swimming pools, 9% to gardens, but 30% was lost in leaks that hotels could rectify. Delgado reported: “The average


consumption per guest night was 400 litres, but in five-star hotels it was almost 800 litres.”


It is a mistake to assume consumers want more sustainable travel options when they are most interested in price, convenience and their holiday experience, according to easyJet holidays chief operating officer Matt Callaghan. He told the Abta


Matt


conference: “We’re too often waiting for customers to lead. Is it time we stopped doing that? I would challenge the thinking that we need to offer customers better choices. “Nearly every airline gives


customers the option to offset – very few take it up. We’re at risk


Callaghan


of getting this wrong if we think consumers will drive this.” Callaghan attacked “an industry assumption that travellers want more sustainable options” and insisted: “They are most bothered about price, convenience and the overall experience – we


need to ground ourselves in that reality.” He added: “In the


past three years, what have we really shifted the dial on?” Callaghan argued for sustainable


holiday options to be the “default, not ones customers must opt for”, saying: “Most consumers think [of travel businesses], ‘This is on you’.”


‘IT guilty of huge carbon footprint’


Technology devices and energy use are among the biggest contributors to the carbon footprint of many companies, but are seldom considered despite being the world’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. That is according to Anthony


Levy, founder and chairman of sustainable IT group Circularity First. He noted technology is often “seen as the answer” on sustainability but told the Abta Sustainable Travel Conference: “IT could be 40% of your footprint.” He pointed out that IT already


produces 4% of global CO2 emissions – more than aviation – and its share is forecast to rise to 14% by 2040.” Levy pointed out data centres


demand huge amounts of energy, noting that only the US and China consume more electricity than


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the world’s data centres and that “one-quarter of all the energy in Ireland is used in data centres”. He said the 500 data centres in


the UK use “a big chunk of energy”, explaining: “Videos, photos, emails all create data, which is stored, but 90% of it is never retrieved. Consumers never retrieve their data.” Levy added: “Networks use at


least as much energy as data centres.” PCs, laptops and mobile devices


are also a “huge problem”, he said, noting: “A laptop has 250kgs of carbon [footprint] embedded in it before it’s even switched on.” He described the extraction


of minerals as “brutal”, and the refining, manufacture and shipping of devices as “using lots of energy” and noted: “IT also consumes huge quantities of water.” Levy added: “We create huge


problems with waste from devices.


The UK creates 60 million tonnes of electronic waste a year and it’s hard to recycle. We recycle at best about 17%.” He suggested “we’ve been


hands off with IT” and told the conference: “If your organisation is using software, IT will be 18% to 40% of your carbon footprint. You should be asking your IT suppliers about their [emission] reduction


Data centres use a ‘big chunk of energy’


plans, particularly cloud providers. Ask how they are going to help you measure the footprint of your business and help you reduce it.” He argued: “We’re not reducing


carbon emissions globally, and IT is the worst example of that. We’re seeing big tech companies roll back on their sustainability pledges because they know they won’t hit them.”


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PICTURE: Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff


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