Earth Hour – a strong signal for sustainability
Leonardo Hotels shows a clear commitment to environmental protection via a clear strategy and a series of wide-ranging initiatives
Berlin, 19th March 2025. The Leonardo Hotels Group will be taking part in the global Earth Hour movement on 22 March by switching the lights out in all its hotels across Europe for one hour. For Leonardo Hotels, however, this action is more than a mere symbolic gesture. It underlines the company’s comprehensive commitment to climate protection and to a sustainable future. An extensive Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Strategy encompassing more than 100 long-term measures was adopted as long ago as 2022. This means that sustainability is enshrined within Leonardo Hotels’ corporate culture, and the company has launched numerous initiatives to drive the issue forward proactively.
Green Key Certification – a systematic approach to sustainability
The highly ambitious Green Key Certification scheme forms the central element of Leonardo Hotels’ sustainability strategy. This system requires high environmental and sustainability standards and incorporates multiple criteria relating to aspects such as energy and water efficiency and waste management. Almost all of the group’s 113 hotels in Central Europe are either already certified or else have instigated initial certification. Particular mention should be made of the pilot project which has provided each hotel with a dedicated Green Key Officer. This puts the company in a unique position worldwide. These specially trained points of contacts are able to deal with any questions relating to the environment and play a crucial part in establishing robust compliance with sustainability standards and in ensuring further development. They devote an average of two hours of their working time to this topic every week.
Biodiversity, waste avoidance and local projects
Protection of biodiversity assumes an important role at Leonardo Hotels. Numerous Leonardo Hotels, including those in Berlin, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, use wildflower meadows to encourage biodiversity and to offer protected habitats for insects. Roof green in cities such as Munich, Nuremberg and Weimar contribute to improvement of air quality and help to store CO₂ and to regulate rainwater. The deployment of water butts also allows more efficient water use. In addition to this, many hotels operate herb gardens to supply their bars and restaurants and grow vegetables in raised beds. Hydroponic salad leaf cultivation is another example of a sustainable concept which is pioneering in terms of saving water.
Leonardo Hotels has been closely involved with World Clean-up Day since 2023, In fact, it devotes an entire week to the campaign! Sustainable action takes time, and many helping hands are needed. In order to ensure that as many employees as possible are able to take part, staff are released from their normal work duties and are also issued with litter grippers and gloves. They work as teams to send out a strong signal for environmental awareness by tidying up public parks, green spaces and the areas surrounding hotels. Last year’s result was highly impressive. Around 400 staff from almost 70 hotels in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, France, Poland and Czechia came together to collect over 7,600 litres of rubbish.
The company’s partnership with the “Too Good To Go” programme enables it to assist in the reduction of food waste. By the end of 2024, 41 hotels had succeeded in salvaging 50,000 food parcels in Germany alone. This led to the saving of around 125 tonnes of CO₂, a quantity which equates to the annual electricity consumption of around 90 households. This figure rises to 100,000 food parcels if the participating hotels in Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland and taken into account too.
Bee hives on hotel roofs
One further highlight is the involvement of Leonardo Hotels in bee keeping at locations such as Augsburg, Berlin and Bad Kreuznach. As well as raising staff awareness of topics relating to sustainability, this initiative also supports the production of regional honey. A total of 60 bee hives have been installed on the roofs of over 20 Leonardo Hotels since the start of the programme in 2023. Almost 1,600 litres of honey were harvested in the first year despite a cold and damp spring. This was a highly impressive yield on the part of the hard-working Leonardo bees, which is likely to grow significantly over the coming years given better weather conditions.
Digitalisation as a contribution to sustainability
Leonardo Hotels see digitalisation as a vehicle for fostering sustainability. More and more hotels are using digital Suitepads and In-Room Tablets to replace traditional paper-based guest brochures. But this is not all. Guests are increasingly opting for the “Green Option”, which is offered on digital end devices and permits cancellation of daily room cleaning services. As a result, 208,000 unnecessary room cleans were not carried out in 2024. Lower consumption of water, cleaning agents and energy resulted in a saving of 418 tonnes of CO₂. Even greater savings of over 300,000 room cleans are expected for 2025.
Research and education are a sustainability factor
Leonardo Hotels also funds the evaluation research of sustainability projects in the hotel sector and supports dual higher education students with their Bachelor and Masters dissertations. This generates significant findings regarding environmentally friendly approaches such as the greywater utilisation concept currently being investigated at the Leonardo Royal Köln – Am Stadtwald. The reuse of slightly contaminated wastewater from washbasins and showers saves valuable drinking water, reduces the burden on the environment and decreases energy consumption.
“Leonardo Hotels is maintaining its active commitment to climate and environmental protection,” stated Natascha Michaelsen, Project Coordinator Sustainability at Leonardo Hotels Central Europe. The company is using innovative projects, ongoing research and a clear focus on long-term measures as active ways to continue to help achieve a sustainable future.”