Accor: Increasing Scope 3 accuracy with activity surveys

Accor, a world leading hospitality group known for its sustainability leadership, wanted to improve how it measures its environmental impact, particularly its Scope 3 emissions. 

With hotels in over 110 countries and a goal of reaching Net Zero emissions by 2050, Accor needed precise data to achieve this target while expanding globally. 

To do this, they chose CO2 AI to gather detailed information from hotels through tailored surveys, ensuring accurate calculations of Scope 3 emissions for each location.

Navigating global complexity

Accor planned to send personalized surveys to each of its hotels and improve emission calculations using the responses. This approach aimed to maintain a consistent understanding of activities across their 5,500+ hotels and ensure the most precise matching of emission factors to accurately measure the group's overall footprint. 

Operating in various languages and operational settings, Accor demanded survey translation into 11 languages to cater to its international presence.

Furthermore, adapting to different formats and logistical systems was crucial to gather detailed data, including specifics about materials, equipment, and services, right down to details like linen composition and how often it's renewed.

Developing annual custom surveys

In partnership with Quantis, a global sustainability consultancy, CO2 AI helped Accor devise the survey methodology and format. 

The objective was to prioritize accuracy at scale and empower the group to compute emissions accurately for each hotel, to be renewed on an annual basis. 

Eleven categories were created to account for all emissions across laundry, food and beverage, chemicals, waste, furniture, cooling, disposable products, printing, construction/renovation, beds and mattresses, and IT equipment.

Refining emissions computation for each hotel

CO2 AI integrates hotel data, such as location and activity, along with survey responses to facilitate matching of emission factors.

To obtain the highest level of accuracy, 150 industry emissions factors (EF) were modulated into 1,800 different factors based on responses. This advanced methodology, developed with Quantis, enabled Accor to best fit each hotel’s specificities. 

CO2 AI provides full data lineage and transparency, as well as the ability to slice and dice survey results to gain a better understanding of emissions. All sourced and processed data is exported into Accor’s internal system, ensuring centralized availability and visualization.

Fast and high-impact initiative to refine Scope 3

The initiative yielded impressive results within just three months from survey creation to site-level emission computations. CO2 AI’s automated calculations enable Accor to obtain a footprint refresh in a minute based on updated data.

Annual survey replication ensures continuity and sustainability in data collection, paving the way for ongoing emissions reduction efforts. 

Looking ahead, Accor is poised to drive impactful emissions reduction across its hotels, by empowering each location to set targets, simulate their carbon trajectories, and effectively progress towards common sustainability goals.

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