emissions are a good place to start, as they can be altered with simple, often free or very cheap changes, such as not leaving things on standby and making sure the taps aren’t left running unnecessarily.
"Operators can save thousands to their bottom line per outlet by being more energy-efficient, by wasting less water and [producing less] waste,” Mark said.
Secondly is the supply chain, the most pollutive part of the hospitality industry - responsible for 70-90 percent of its total emissions. Any changes here will likely be more expensive, as they require purchasing changes. To put it simply, local produce tends to cost more than foreign produce.
But solving the issues with the supply chain is not just about buying local, it is also about asking suppliers what it is that they are doing to lower their impact, and about lowering the impact of transport in general.
Finally, we have the consumer emission. With this, Mark takes a less direct approach. In this area, he argued, businesses need to promote positive activities and influence people to make changes in their lives through the food the industry produces.
The idea is that if you create good food sustainably, you will influence consumers to also start being more sustainable with their food. “I really don’t believe it’s as hard as we think it is to engage consumers,” he said.
The difficulties
According to Mark, there are four major barriers to implementing net-zero carbon emissions, the first of which is motivation, which is becoming less and less of an issue, Mark said, “In the last three years I’ve seen a huge increase in motivation from operators.”
The second difficulty is knowing what it is that needs to be done, and that is where the Forum’s roadmap comes in. It bypasses the issues of not knowing what to do by giving people all of the information they need to implement changes.
The third issue is cost - arguably the biggest limitation to any such endeavour. Mark hopes that thanks to the Forum, there will be larger-scale movements that will help lower the prices of the changes.
The final issue is apathy, as people often believe that if other countries - like China, or Russia - aren't doing their part, our own efforts are pointless.
But, Mark argued, “we need to give them something good to copy. If we show them how to do this, I have no doubt it will put this in at pace.”
In Summary
Mark's hope is that despite all of the challenges that lie ahead, the Forum will provide a support network for the industry to make the changes we need to see. And he painted a great picture: if all of the Forum's members were to move to renewable energy, it would save over half a million tons of carbon per year. Which is the equivalent of 45,000 households.
