Ambitious new targets build on strong progress in recent years, which includes reducing our carbon footprint and providing skills to thousands of local people.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG®), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, has announced ambitious new Responsible Business targets to 2020, alongside details of the good progress we delivered against our previous five-year targets.

Published in our online 2017 Responsible Business Report, our new 2018-2020 targets focus on four areas where we feel we can have the most positive impact: environmental sustainability, community impact, our people and responsible procurement.

Keith Barr, Chief Executive Officer, IHG, commented: “Many companies have responsible business commitments, but with hotels in local communities all over the world, IHG touches the lives of millions of people. This puts us in a unique position to make a real difference – whether that be doing the right thing for the environment, providing skills and employment to local people, or stepping up to help communities in times of need.

“We are very proud of our achievements against our five-year responsible business targets, which reflect the dedication and support of our people, hotel owners and partners globally. However, we know that there’s always more to do and our new targets are testament to our ongoing commitment to build on our successes and to play an ever more positive role in local communities around the world.”

Achievements against our 2013-2017 targets
We delivered good results against our 2013-2017 targets. This included progress in a number of areas, such as driving a reduction in carbon and water usage across our hotels globally and providing skills to thousands of people living in the local communities around them.

We also gained significant external recognition for our efforts, including being crowned an industry leader for sustainability in the 2017 S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Indices – the most prestigious global benchmarks for corporate economic, environmental and social performance.

Our 2018-2020 Responsible Business targets
Building on our successes, we have worked closely with our owners, suppliers, colleagues and external stakeholders to set 11 new targets that will guide our work over the next three years.

These stretching targets focus on four areas where we feel we can make the greatest positive impact – environmental sustainability, community impact, our people, and responsible procurement. They are also designed to support several of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.