De Vere, a collection of historic mansion house estates, distinctive contemporary hotels and event destinations, has partnered with SkootEco, an award-winning Top 5% B-Corp dedicated to environmental sustainability, to further its commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions. This strategic collaboration marks a significant step in De Vere’s sustainability drive, aligning with global efforts to combat climate change.
This summer has seen De Vere launch two new initiatives; ‘Stay Sustainable’ and an online event carbon calculator, in a bid to help empower guests to make positive climate impacts; both of which integrate SkootEco’s innovative solutions.
The bespoke emissions calculator, which sits on De Vere’s website, allows delegates to effortlessly calculate the carbon footprint of their events by inputting data such as location, number of attendees, duration, meals, travel, and accommodation. The results are provided in seconds via an email report. This empowers event planners to understand their carbon emissions, using GHG protocols and high integrity data-sets, and provides the opportunity to offset them with a simple Eco-Contribution and start them on their journey to becoming more sustainable.
Each event’s impact is certified, with bookers receiving an impact certificate detailing the environmental contributions. De Vere also maintains a virtual impact profile, showcasing real-time updates on climate activities associated with each event.
'Stay Sustainable' is a new initiative which encourages guests staying two nights or more to reduce emissions by opting out of room cleaning, including towel and bedding changes, during their stay, when booking directly. For each 'Stay Sustainable' booking, De Vere commits to funding the planting of 1 tree, the removal of 2 plastic bottles from the ocean, and helping fund humanitarian carbon projects.
Alan Corlett, De Vere’s Co-CEO commented
“These exciting initiatives allows us to provide our guests with the tools to make informed decisions about their environmental impact and take actionable steps towards change. This project is part of our wider ESG efforts and reflects our dedication to making meaningful changes as we journey towards a more sustainable future.”
Greg Gormley, SkootEco’s CEO commented
“We believe that every small action contributes to a significant positive impact. This partnership with De Vere exemplifies the importance of businesses integrating sustainability into their core operations and making it easy for their guests to do the same. It’s exciting to think about what the two companies can achieve for the planet together.”
The programme will support impactful climate projects through SkootEco, ensuring the planting of certified mangrove trees in Tudor Creek, Kenya along with the recovery of ocean-bound plastic bottles, whilst the offsetting of emissions will be via Gold Standard High Quality verified humanitarian carbon credits.
Through this partnership, De Vere will enhance its guest experience by providing the opportunity to make a positive environmental impact. The events’ emissions calculator and opt-out options not only simplify the process of understanding and mitigating carbon footprints but also reinforces De Vere’s dedication to sustainable practices.
While carbon offsetting plays a supportive role in achieving climate goals, the main priority for us all is to address the issue head on and focus on reducing our footprint. To further achieve this, De Vere has implemented additional initiatives, including the introduction of more plant-based choices on its Smart Space conference menus, water fountains and reusable bottles to replace single use plastic, more EV charges to support sustainable transport choices, all electricity is now from renewable sources and new recycling schemes to reduce waste.