Radisson Hotel Group is taking a lead in the environmental space, as it heads towards a target of having 100 hotels listed as Verified Net Zero properties by 2030.
Four hotels in Stockholm and Copenhagen are the latest to achieve the standard, now making nine hotels across the Nordics and UK verified properties. These additions build on an initial pilot project, and take on the complexities of different styles of property, across larger hotels that incorporate meetings and events spaces. The programme focuses on operations of each hotel, using established principles to examine how to reduce the carbon footprint of the hotel’s operations, from day to day.
Leading the Way in the Nordics
Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel, Stockholm is one of the latest verified properties. The 414 room hotel was recently renovated, and sits next to the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre, a major events destination with a capacity of up to 3,000 delegates. The facility is one of Europe’s most energy efficient buildings, with 1,040 square metres of solar panels, and a cooling system that draws water from the nearby Klara Sjö. Already, it has LEED Gold certification.
Scandinavian hotel business Nordic Choice is one of the groups leading the change, both in operations and new developments. Its hotel in Arenastaden, Solna opened in 2021 as the region’s first zero-energy hotel. Alongside new hotels, there are greater challenges in conversions, such as the Falsterbo Strandbad Hotel in Skane, Sweden where an existing property will be incorporated into the new, 153 room property.
For hotel developers, the challenge of new build is set against the greener credentials of repurposing existing buildings, with their embedded carbon in standing structures.
Hostel group a&o is another hospitality company taking its carbon reduction seriously. The company recently published its fourth annual sustainability report, noting it reduced emissions per overnight stay by 1.9% from 2024 to 2025, to 3.58kg of CO2 per stay. The company’s total emissions went up, but this was due to it growing its portfolio by four properties during the reporting year. a&o extensively reuses existing buildings to create its hostels, and continues to drive a programme of energy efficiency through existing properties, in a bid to reduce its emissions as well as ensure lower operating costs.
Brands Find Solutions in the UK
In the UK, IHG has partnered with Zeal Hotels to develop a Voco branded property which is the UK’s first branded net zero operational hotel, which also claims net zero embodied carbon in a new build. The hotel features solar panels not just on its roof, but as part of its vertical cladding. IHG had to modify its brand standards to accommodate new methods of energy efficient air handling and comfort cooling.
Other groups are also heading to all-electric hotels. Whitbread, owner of the Premier Inn chain, launched its first electric only hotel in Swindon in 2023, and is now looking to build more hotels with no gas supply. Combining efficient electric systems, with green energy supply from solar and wind, helps drive the hotel sector to a lower carbon density.
