Hilton Releases 2020 ESG Report, Reinforcing Commitment to Positive Global Impact

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) leadership remains top priority for 2021 and beyond

The Hilton 2020 ESG Report highlights the company’s continued commitment to redefining sustainable travel and driving positive impact on people and the planet. Through Hilton’s Travel with Purpose program, the company continues to take important steps to integrate positive social impact and environmental stewardship throughout its operations, communities and supply chain.

Travel with Purpose

Travel with Purpose is Hilton’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy to redefine and advance sustainable travel globally. By 2030, Hilton plans to double their investment in social impact and cut their environmental footprint by half. They track, analyze and report their environmental and social impact at each of Hilton’s more than 6,400 hotels through LightStay, a performance management system.

Hilton LightStay Standard is a GSTC-Recognized Standard

Hilton’s LightStay management system achieved ‘GSTC-Recognized Standard’ status in 2019 and continues to focus on sustainability when measuring and managing the impact of their global portfolio. Originally designed to track environmental data, LightStay has evolved to measure, manage and report all of Hilton’s environmental and social performance metrics. As a global brand standard, all of Hilton’s 6,478 managed and franchised hotels are required to use LightStay to track their environmental and social performance against prior years and against peers.

«We have aligned our LightStay management system with the criteria of the UN-founded Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), the most respected seal of approval for sustainable travel and tourism practices. This represents a significant step towards our goal of adopting a global standard for responsible travel and tourism. While our efforts to further our GSTC certification process were put on pause this year due to the pandemic’s impacts on our business, we continue to identify opportunities to achieve GSTC certification for our hotels to ensure the sustainability of our operations.»

Hilton recognizes that they have a responsibility to conserve the environment and protect the communities in which they operate, in order to preserve destinations for future generations of travelers.

Read the full report

Hilton’s 2020 ESG Report was prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and integrates the recommendations of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). In addition to the ESG Report and website, Hilton externally reports on its Travel with Purpose strategy, programs and progress towards its 2030 Goals in the company’s Form 10-K, Annual Report and Proxy Statement.

Hilton 2020 ESG Report (April 2021)

Become a Certified Sustainable Accommodation

Hilton, as well as other brands, continue to identify opportunities to achieve certification for their hotels to ensure the sustainability of their operations.

Sustainability certification (also known as an eco-label) for accommodations is a voluntary, third-party assessment through an audit to ensure compliance with sustainable tourism standards. GSTC does not conduct certification. Global Certification Bodies (CB) conduct certification, while GSTC acts as the international body for sustainable tourism certification.

Accommodations certified by a GSTC-Accredited CB can use the GSTC logo along with the CB’s mark. The logos are also shared with OTAs and other buyers of hotel space.

Learn more about how to become certified as a sustainable accommodation.