Before former U.S. Vice President Al Gore focused the world’s attention on “inconvenient truths,” hoteliers were pioneering approaches for creating greener hotels. Here, members of the green vanguard discuss the progress, problems and possibilities of an eco-friendlier hotel industry.

HO KWON PING, executive chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings, Ltd.; CLAIRE CHIANG, executive director, retail operations, Banyan Tree Holdings, Singapore

Profile: Launched company by transforming an apocalyptic abandoned tin mine into a lush, luxury resort; pioneered corporate responsibility programs; earned dozens of major environmental/corporate responsibility awards.

What’s right in the industry: The shift toward sustainable adoption; the “wider embrace” of a triple bottom line that measures success in environmental and social performance in addition to financial performance, says Ho.

What’s wrong: Exploitation. “Tourism is a double-edged sword. It develops and brings prosperity. It also destroys the environment and leads to disharmony. It should be an opportunity, giving us a platform to educate and unify peoples from all over the world,” Chiang says.

Goals: Reduce consumption of natural resources; enhance prosperity in the communities where resorts are located by hiring and purchasing locally as much as possible; use resorts as agents of social and economic development.

JAN PETER BERGKVIST, vice president, sustainable business, Scandic Hotels, Stockholm

Profile: Motivated by a team member to create an environmental program for the Scandic Hotel Bromma where he was the general manager in 1992, Bergkvist has been the guiding force behind more than a decade’s worth of result-oriented innovation—from “the recycled room,” a guestroom that is 97% recycled or biodegradable, to environmental benchmarking programs and participation as a partner in “The Challenge,” which involves many of Sweden’s leading businesses in continuous environmental improvement efforts.

What’s right: Energy reduction programs and other conservation initiatives.

What’s wrong: Difficulties in phasing out non-biodegradable chemicals; tracking foods that have been genetically modified or modified with nanotechnology; dealing with municipalities that may not offer options to fossil fuels. “Our industry has started to make things happen in areas such as energy efficiency and social sustainability, but, in general, we are not in the forefront,” he says. “The industry is far, far away from being completely green.”

Goal: To make Scandic 100% green by 2025 by eliminating all carbon-emitting activities; installing thermo-steered heating; using renewable energy; choosing cars driven by renewed fuel; installing water efficient fixtures; specifying eco-labeled foods; supplying garbage sorters in every guestroom and eliminating disposable packaging.

JUERGEN SEIDEL, group director of property maintenance, engineering and innovation and social and environmental consciousness, Six Senses Resorts & Spas, Bangkok

Profile: Taking his cue from Six Senses Chairman and CEO Sonu Shivdasani, Seidel has set standards that have garnered pages of environmental awards. GreenGlobe has opted to use many of Six Senses’ spas best practices as part of its new spa certification standards.

What’s right: Green pride. More operators and owners are making water/energy conservation elements as “natural as any other design features,” rather than hiding them away; shorter payback times for renewable energy sources.

What’s wrong: Unwillingness of some owners, developers and contractors to invest time and money into sourcing environmentally and socially responsible materials.

Goal: Go the next level. “Measuring, recording and comparing energy and water usage in a monthly chart will help departments identify shortfalls (and waste) and create new initiatives, including use of renewable energy. In design, it will be a back-to-nature and a 'biomimacry’ approach,” Seidel says.

CHRIS CAHILL, president, COO, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, Toronto

Profile: Heir to a green initiative launched in 1989, this converted environmentalist is known for common-sense programs that make what’s good for the environment good for the bottom line.

What’s right: Property-level staff support for green programs; adoption of simple solutions with big impact (changing light bulbs to save US$60,000 a year at properties such as Fairmont’s Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in California).

What’s wrong: Knee-jerk reactions. “There are all kinds of claims about carbon footprints. Before we pursue this, I need to know whether this is really a subsidy for a less efficient method of energy. Isn’t the objective to find more efficient forms of energy?” Cahill says.

Goals: High compliance standards; water/energy conservation evolution as of hotels’ capital plans; staying in a leadership position. “We don’t want anyone to leapfrog us on green issues,” he adds.

HOTELS profiles five more “Deans of Green” on our Web site. Visit the URL below to read comments from Ed Fuller of Marriott International; Eberhart Rues of RUES Hotel Management & Consulting; Wen-I Chang of Gaia Napa Valley Hotel & Spa and Atman Hospitality Group; Patricia Griffin of the Green Hotels Association; and Lyndall DeMarco of the International Tourism Partnership.