Spend a night, save a tree?

(Bethesda, MD) Marriott International has an unusual new partner and cause.
The hotel and hospitality firm - along with the state of Amazonas - have signed an agreement to support the first project of its kind to help protect 1.4 million acres of endangered rainforest.
The partnership between government and the private sector is one of the first in the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation.
Marriott has committed $2 million to fund an environmental management plan administered by the newly created Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. By year end, Marriott guests and group customers will also be able to offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated from their hotel stays by contributing to the rainforest fund.
Marriott, itself, is taking new steps to reduce the company's water, waste and energy consumption; green its supply chain; build greener hotels; and engage employees and guests to take action.
To offset its global environmental footprint - calculated at 2.9 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually - Marriott has developed a five- point strategy in collaboration with Conservation International, a global conservation organization. This includes:
- Carbon Offsets ... Protecting the Rainforest - Help protect the 1.4 million acre Juma Sustainable Development reserve, an area rich in biodiversity. The burning and clearing of tropical rainforests causes more carbon emissions than all the world's cars, trains, SUVs and trucks combined.
Marriott and its customers will contribute to a fund to be administered by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation, which will monitor and enforce the protection of the reserve.
- Water, Waste and Energy - Further reduce fuel and water consumption by 25 percent per available room over the next 10 years, and install solar power at up to 40 hotels by 2017. Expand existing "reduce, reuse, recycle" programs already in place at 90 percent of hotels to include guest and meeting rooms, beginning with pilot hotels across all brands in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.
- Supply Chain - Engage the company's top 40 vendors (soaps, shampoo bottles, etc) to supply price-neutral greener products across 12 categories of its $10 billion supply chain.
- Green Buildings - Encourage new Marriott development companines to site, design and construct new hotels according to green standards by updating Marriott design guidelines in line with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)standards by the end of 2009. - Employee and Guest Engagement - Educate and inspire employees and guests to support the environment through their everyday actions at home, while at work and on travel. The company is introducing a "green meeting" program for its major meeting planners this May, and will offer its employees on business travel the Hertz Green Collection- including hybrid rental vehicles with SmartWay certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On the web: www.marriott.com/environment .

(Copyright 2007 Newsroom Solutions, LLC)
Delivered by Newsroom Solutions
RNS-04-07-08 0906CDT