Certifications
Pandox’s main environmental impact comes from the properties – primarily from heating and electricity and the use of building materials. Therefore Pandox is focusing on various activities to reduce energy and water consumption and to increase resource efficiency in operation, production and distribution.
Pandox’s ambition is for all of the hotels in Operator Activities to have Green Key certification – unless they already have another environmental certification – within three years of being acquired or operation being transferred. At the end of 2021, 100 (100) percent of the hotels were environmentally certified. Green Key certification is one of the leading standards in environmental responsibility and sustainable operations in the tourism industry, including hotels.
In Property Management, 63 (80) percent of the tenants’ hotels have some form of environmental certification. Examples of certifications used are Green Key, Nordic Swan and ISO 14001. Pandox follows up annually on environmental certification and is in discussion with the tenants who do not yet have any certification in place.
Green Key – an international environmental certification within the tourism industry
The Green Key award is the leading standard for excellence in the field of environmental responsibility and sustainable operation within the tourism industry with over 3000 certified businesses in over 60 countries. This prestigious eco-label represents a commitment by businesses that their premises adhere to the strict criteria set by the Foundation for Environmental Education and is supported by World Tourism Organization (WTO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The Green Key label is an easy to use tool within the tourism industry for those who want to improve their operation in responsibility and sustainability. Green key helps hotels, campings and conference centers to communicate their sustainability work and also maybe to reduce the operational costs.
Read more here.
Reduced food waste from restaurants
More than one third of all food globally is thrown away, which
is equivalent to around 10 percent of global GHG emissions.
On average, food waste represents 4–12 percent of a hotel’s
food costs. Pandox has enlisted the help of foodtech company Winnow, which has a system to categorise and register all food that is thrown away. The aim is to increase awareness of overproduction and to improve purchase planning. The project was to be launched in 2021 but was delayed due to the pandemic, as it requires at least 30 percent occupancy and open restaurants to generate the critical mass of food waste needed for reliable analysis.
In December Winnow, like many other companies during the pandemic, also had problems with hardware deliveries. As the categorisation process is complete, the rollout of the system will take place as soon as the hardware is delivered. The project covers 15 of the hotels that Pandox operates within Operator Activities. The five other hotels operated by Pandox will not be part of the project as restaurant operations at four of them are too small to be relevant and one hotel was closed for renovation, but will introduce Winnow in 2022.