Melia Hotels International has announced a new initiative that will see the group measure, reduce and offset the carbon footprint of events held in its hotels.

Through a strategic partnership with Creast, a technology company specialising in measuring, reducing and offsetting the environmental impact of events, Meliá will provide MICE clients with a tool that allows the rigorous and traceable calculation of the amount of CO2 generated by each event, taking into account transportation, energy and water use, materials used, and waste generated, catering and accommodation services.

These measurements are vital for detecting opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint and define ambitious and achievable goals. The measurements will also help create an important knowledge base to help define the future structure of more sustainable events and meetings in Meliá hotels, at the same time supporting the company’s global objectives to reduce emissions.

Meliá will offset the emissions generated by events in its hotels to support its move towards carbon neutrality. As part of the process, several verified environmental projects will be selected to be supported by compensation certificates which will be issued for each hotel event.

José Miguel Moreno, VP Corporate & MICE Sales Strategy at Meliá Hotels International, said: “Our objective is to involve our clients in combatting climate change so that we can move forward together in the decarbonisation of events, so we’re really proud to take our first steps towards promoting the sustainable transformation of the MICE industry.”

The project has been piloted at the Palma Convention Centre and its Meliá Palma Bay Hotel (pictured above), one the company’s top properties with regard to sustainability.

A European pilot project will begin soon at the Meliá Barcelona Sarriá and Meliá Berlin, in which the learning process will be used as the basis for exporting the model to a greater number of MICE hotels throughout the year.