THE WORLD
Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and store vast quantities of carbon that soaks up the global emissions of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Some 120 - 150 thousand square kilometers of forest are lost each year - equivalent to 36 football fields every minute. Deforestation is estimated to represent 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
The food industry is a substantial part of the world’s social and climatic problems. At the same time, tons of food is being wasted every day. The production of red meat alone represents 15% of global CO2 emissions, several animal species are endangered and for the first time ever, more people die from obesity than from hunger. There is no need to emphasize the desperate need for change.
Did you know that it takes more than 20 000 liters of water to produce one kilo of cotton? Today, more than 900 million people in the world lack access to clean water. Still, enormous amounts of water are used in the production and cleaning of cotton products such as towels and bed sheets. Reducing the cleaning frequency and number of cotton articles would have a significant impact on the world’s scarce water resources.
OUR WORLD
For each night you stay at a Comfort Hotel, we save 100 square meters of rainforest for one year, through our collaboration with the Rainforest Foundation. In 2013 alone, we helped preserve 88,628 football fields of rainforest. Our contribution means better living conditions for the indigenous population and a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.
At Comfort Hotel, we serve only organic coffee and tea, over 400 cups per hour to be precise, and all 4400 eggs served every day come from organic farms. We seek to reduce consumption of red meat and increase consumption of healthy fruits and greens and we will not put anything on our tables that compromise animal welfare. We wish to be a part of the solution to the world’s food issues, not a cause to the problem.
Clean drinking water is an increasingly scarce resource in the world. Every day, we strive to reduce our direct and indirect water usage. On average our guests use 171 liters per day, which is way below our industry’s average. We challenge our laundry suppliers to use less water, to transport our deliveries more efficiently and to recycle their cotton. We will strive to reduce our impact even further.
WHO THINKS THE WORLD NEEDS A NEW DOT?
We do. We’re Comfort Hotel, by Nordic Choice Hotels, in collaboration with the Rainforest Foundation Norway.
We, at Comfort Hotel, are in the business of giving people a great place to stay, and we love what we do. First of all we strive to give our guests quality sleep, great service, and show them the best the city has to offer. Our efforts are measured by our guests at tripadvisor.com, a great place to compete with the best.
But, we want to go further. Everyone can agree that pushing a sustainable agenda is important, be it us as operators or our guests. We can make a significant change for the better if TripAdvisor also measured us on sustainability. We are not the best, but we want to do better and we want to compete for the top position on TripAdvisor. And if every hotel strived for the same, we believe we can change the world.
You can read more about what we do and how we do it in our annual report. We report equally on «the three bottom lines»; People, planet and profit.
The Rainforest Foundation Norway was established in 1989 and is today one of the world’s leading organizations within rainforest protection. The Rainforest Foundation Norway collaborates closely with more than 70 local environmental, indigenous and human rights organizations in 11 rainforest countries. It makes sense to get behind the message of pushing for a change in a market economy driven reality that is hotel operations. If more hotel chains took this seriously, the world could actually be a better place.
Join our cause now