Leading voices in sustainability from the Nordic hospitality sector gathered in Copenhagen on April 15th for an exclusive ESG Summit organized by Ecostars.
The summit was intended to serve as a targeted, high-level forum for exchanging perspectives on ESG standards, legislative advancements, and workable sustainability tactics influencing the Nordic hospitality industry’s future.
NORDIC TOURISM COLLECTIVE & TERRA VERDE
We were honored to welcome the Nordic Tourism Collective and TerraVerde as co-hosts of the event. Patrick Richards and Liza Degtyareva, who represented the organizations, offered in-depth insights on the changing sustainability landscape in the hospitality industry.
Their presentation explored how ESG is evolving from a compliance-driven exercise to a strategic, business-critical lever in the Nordic tourism industry. A key message was clear: ESG is no longer a “nice to have,” but a defining factor in how hotels manage risk, interact with guests, and ensure long-term business value.
Additionally, an important structural insight was highlighted: only 36.2% of hotels in the region belong to a hotel chain, meaning that the vast majority of properties are independent. This becomes particularly relevant in the context of certification, which is often seen as a benchmark for sustainability but remains significantly more accessible to large hotel groups. As a result, the absence of certification should not be interpreted as a lack of commitment, but rather as a reflection of existing barriers—pointing to the need for more inclusive and scalable approaches to sustainability across the industry.
From Ecostars’ perspective, this is the exact area where we concentrate our efforts: enabling independent hotels to obtain sustainability accreditation. Our goal is to make it possible for smaller properties—which are frequently disregarded by conventional frameworks—to measure, enhance, and successfully communicate their sustainability performance by streamlining data collecting and lowering operational complexity, while increasing their visibility on OTAs as sustainable establishments.
PARTICIPATING HOTEL GROUPS
The summit brought together sustainability leaders from four prominent hotel groups in the region:
- Comwell Hotels – Rasmus Rasmussen, Head of Sustainable Gastronomy
- IslandsHotels – Lijing Zhou, Head of Sustainability
- BWH Hotel Group – Harry Söderlind, ESG Certification & Training Specialist
- Bellagroup – Anna-Sofie Stagsted Nielsen, Sustainability Coordinator
Each participant shared real-world strategies for implementing ESG, certification frameworks, and operations sustainability efforts from their own chains.
KEY DISCUSSIONS AND OUTCOMES
The discussions throughout the summit were highly interactive and centered on the practical implementation of ESG strategies within hotel operations. Topics included governance and reporting, circularity, social responsibility, digital/green technology, energy and water efficiency.
Key takeaways from the summit:
1. Energy and water
Energy efficiency was identified as the top sustainability priority among participating hotel groups. Most chains already rely heavily on green electricity, partly driven by eligibility for government subsidies and financial support schemes. Investments were being made in innovations such as smart extractors which both saved carbon and money and delivered strong ROI’s.
Water monitoring and analysis also emerged as a major focus. In order to turn what is frequently a hidden expense into a measurable and optimizable resource, hotel chains stressed the need for improved visibility into usage per property. Concurrently, water conservation was identified as a critical priority, as improved monitoring systems enable not only operational cost reductions but also better alignment with long-term sustainability and ESG goals. These actions help properties fulfill legal obligations and strengthen their sustainability credentials.
Rainwater harvesting was a recurring topic within the water conservation discussion, with participants highlighting its use for flushing toilets. More broadly, solutions aimed at controlling water pressure—such as controlling shower output—underlined the double benefits of energy and water savings.
Moreover, an interesting discussion emerged around the concept of “making the guest a hero” through water conservation measures such as towel and linen reuse policies. This sparked a broader debate around a long-standing challenge in hospitality: how can hotels become more energy and water efficient without compromising the comfort and quality of the guest experience?
2. Circularity
Changing behavior is more difficult than anticipated; operational design is more important.
The fact that influencing guest behavior is not always as simple as anticipated was one of the main discussions that arose during the roundtable. All hoteliers agree that cutting food waste was key. For instance, several hotel chains tried cutting the size of buffet plates in an effort to reduce food waste, figuring that patrons would naturally take less. Although the results were not favorable for all, one chain reported a 50% reduction in food waste after implementing this change. This offers an important lesson for the rest of the participants: structural changes serve as a starting point in changing behavioral cues. By reshaping the environment—like changing buffet service for menus—and normalizing certain behaviors, hotels can gradually increase awareness and encourage guests to adapt to more sustainable practices over time.
Another useful insight came from a chain that stressed the importance of avoiding “guilt tripping” guests. This reinforces the idea that sustainable behavior is more likely to change through thoughtful design and convenience than through pressure or moral messaging.
Ultimately, this raises a central question for hoteliers: can guest behavior be meaningfully influenced through environmental design alone, without compromising comfort or the quality of the guest experience?
3. Governance
Managing Scope 3 emissions is particularly complex, as they represent the largest share of the carbon footprint for most hotel groups. Unlike Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which can be measured more directly, Scope 3 emissions rely heavily on estimates and assumptions, largely due to the dependence on supplier-provided data. The lack of primary data makes it difficult for hotels to identify and implement targeted reduction measures. Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that, while this remains a major obstacle, sustainability is ultimately built on transparency, and consistency is what drives transparency. Hotels can “walk the talk” by taking structured, measurable steps to reduce their overall carbon impact even in the absence of completely trustworthy supplier data.
CONCLUSION
The Ecostars ESG Summit for Nordic hotel chains underscored both the growing importance of cross-industry collaboration and a broader shift in hospitality: sustainability is no longer a peripheral initiative, but a core driver of operational strategy and long-term value. By bringing together leading hotel groups and sustainability experts, the event fostered meaningful discussions and the exchange of practical ideas, while highlighting ongoing challenges such as data limitations, Scope 3 complexity, and influencing guest behavior. Despite these hurdles, hotel groups are increasingly focused on turning ESG commitments into measurable, actionable outcomes. Importantly, the discussions also showed that when ESG investments deliver a positive ROI within three years, they provide a compelling case for boards and CFOs, underscoring the crucial role of effective data analysis at both property and chain levels.
Ecostars remains committed to fostering these conversations and helping the hospitality sector in its transition towards more transparent, measurable, and impactful ESG practices.