Global hospitality industry launches consultation on sustainability accounting standards

The Energy & Environment Alliance (EEA) has announced the launch of a global consultation to establish the first financially material sustainability accounting standards for the hotels and lodging sector. The initiative marks a major step toward integrating sustainability reporting into the financial decision-making framework of the global hospitality industry.

The EEA, whose members represent over 50,000 hotels and £360 billion in hospitality and real-estate capital, is leading the project through its Taskforce on Hotels & Lodging Sustainability Accounting Standards, in collaboration with King’s Business School. The goal is to develop audit-grade disclosure standards that enable investors, asset managers, lenders, and operators to assess sustainability risks and performance with the same rigour as financial data.

Ufi Ibrahim, Founder and Chief Executive of the EEA, said: “Sustainability performance now directly affects how assets are financed, insured and valued. The question for our industry is no longer whether we disclose, but how we do so in a way that is commercially intelligent, credible and comparable across markets.”

Aligning with global financial reporting standards

The proposed framework is based on the IFRS S1 and S2 standards, which form the global baseline for sustainability reporting and have been adopted or are under consideration in more than 30 major economies, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, the EU, India, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, and the UK.

These standards require businesses to disclose sustainability-related information that materially influences cash flow, cost of capital, and long-term asset value, covering areas such as emissions, resilience, and transition planning. For the hospitality industry—one of the most capital-intensive and climate-sensitive sectors—this evolution is expected to reshape how projects are financed and how sustainability risk is priced.

Professor Marc Lepere, Head of ESG and Sustainability at King’s Business School, explained: “The absence of clear, sector-specific metrics leaves investors unable to price sustainability risk with confidence. The proposed standards translate global reporting rules into a financial language that capital markets understand.”

Also read → AAHOA and EEA partner to drive global sustainability standards in the hospitality industry

Industry-wide participation

The consultation is open to hotel investors, owners, operators, asset managers, lenders, and insurers worldwide, with the final framework to be submitted to the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS) in 2026.

Industry associations including the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), and the Brazilian Luxury Travel Association (BLTA) are supporting the initiative.

Laura Lee Blake, President & CEO of AAHOA, highlighted the importance of participation: “By engaging in this consultation, we are ensuring hotel owners can access capital, meet transparency demands, and compete globally.”

Rosanna Maietta, President & CEO of AHLA, added: “Sustainability has become a central business consideration. The EEA Taskforce’s consultation is a significant milestone that allows us to help shape the benchmark by which sustainability will be measured.”

Camilla Barretto, CEO of BLTA, emphasized the role of emerging markets: “Our participation ensures that Latin America has a voice in shaping sustainability standards that guide investment and growth for decades to come.”

A call to shape the future of sustainability reporting

The consultation, open until 28 February 2026, seeks to define practical and commercially aligned metrics that link sustainability to business performance. The EEA encourages stakeholders to participate, as the resulting standards will influence financing terms, asset valuations, and insurance criteria across the hospitality sector.

As sustainability increasingly determines capital allocation and asset resilience, this initiative represents a decisive move toward a unified, investor-ready reporting framework that could redefine how environmental and social performance are valued within global hospitality.

The article Global hospitality industry launches consultation on sustainability accounting standards first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.

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