AccorHotels pledges carbon offsetting and youth training for COP 21

WORLD – Hotel group AccorHotels, an official partner of the 21^st International Conference on Climate Change, COP 21, has pledged to offset the carbon footprint of all the overnight hotel stays in Ile-de-France for the duration of the conference. COP 21 takes place in Paris, 30 November-11 December and AccorHotels is to train 200 young people in hospitality jobs specially for the event. According to the COP 21 organising committee, the objective of the 2015 conference is to achieve, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, a binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world. AccorHotels chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin says: “As a leader in sustainable hospitality present in over 90 countries, the success of COP 21 is close to our hearts. This is why AccorHotels has made both a professional pledge to train 200 young people, and an environmental pledge to offset the carbon emissions generated during the conference by all the overnight stays in all the hotels in Ile de France in both our establishments and our rivals’ hotels.” AccorHotels will provide training in hospitality professions and the English language for 200 young people from the French department of Seine Saint Denis. These students will welcome the delegations throughout the conference and training courses will draw on the experience of Académie AccorHotels, which has 18 campuses worldwide and trains over 120,000 employees a year. In 2012, the AccorHotels group launched PLANET 21 with 21 stated objectives, including local sourcing, sound water, energy and waste management, health and nutrition, diversity and responsible procurement.