The luxury hospitality industry stands at the crossroads of tradition and transformation, as travellers demand more eco-conscious experiences. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, has been at the forefront of responsible tourism since 1991 when it introduced the ‘Green Partnership Guide’, a comprehensive manual on energy and water conservation, waste management, and community outreach, a resource freely shared with the broader industry.

Since then, Fairmont has continued to build on this legacy, tackling key touchpoints in hotel operations: energy and water consumption monitoring, carbon emissions reduction strategies, food waste reduction and single-use plastics reduction. Along with its parent company Accor, Fairmont is embedding sustainability into every aspect of its operations under three key pillars: eat, stay, and explore. As a testament to this, 100% of the Fairmont portfolio is now third-party eco certified, the first of any of Accor’s brands to achieve this (excluding newly opened properties).

Stay

One of the most ambitious projects in Fairmont’s portfolio is the Fairmont Royal York’s major energy retrofit in Toronto. As the largest heritage retrofit in North America, the property now benefits from cooling sourced deep within Lake Ontario via the city’s innovative Deep Lake Water Cooling system, eliminating the need for traditional centrifugal chillers. New electric heat pumps have replaced legacy steam systems, reducing direct emissions by 80% and meeting the rigorous Zero Carbon Building Performance Standards, proudly certified by the Canada Green Building Council.

Fairmont’s properties are embracing cutting-edge technologies to improve energy efficiency and water conservation. Waste reduction is also a priority, with many properties transitioning to closed-loop systems, such as on-site water bottling plants, to replace single-use plastics with reusable bottles, significantly reducing waste. The goal is to minimize the environmental footprint of each guest’s stay.

Eat

Fairmont’s culinary teams are leveraging FoodSteps, an advanced platform that allows chefs to measure carbon, land and water footprint of every dish. Recipes are assigned an A to E sustainable rating, helping chefs craft menus with lower environmental impact.

The technology complements Fairmont’s AI-powered food waste tracking, which pinpoints inefficiencies in kitchen operations and identifies most discarded items. The goal is to reduce food waste at scale, one of the biggest contributors to a hotel’s Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions.

Explore

Fairmont’s properties have always been deeply rooted in their communities, and the focus on destination driven experiences that protect local ecosystems and cultures. At Fairmont Orchid, Hawaiʻi guests can engage in marine preservation through the hotel’s partnership with the ʻĀkoʻakoʻa Reef Restoration Program, the first of its kind by a hotel in Hawaiʻi. Guests are encouraged to learn about ongoing coral restoration efforts, with plans to offer a snorkelling experience that provides a deeper dive into the understanding of reef conservation.

In another part of the world, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is driving large-scale environmental initiatives across the Kingdom. Fairmont hotels in Riyadh, Makkah and soon Red Sea align with the Kingdom’s goals and will carry the Vision 2030 in their DNA.

In Singapore, Fairmont is home to the hospitality industry’s first urban aquaponics farm, where visitors can explore sustainable food production. Meanwhile, in Scotland, Fairmont St Andrews champions sustainability through its expansive greenhouse and herb garden, where a significant portion of the hotel’s fresh produce is grown. This initiative reduces the need for long-distance food transportation, lowering the property’s carbon footprint while ensuring the freshest ingredients for its kitchens. Additionally, the hotel avidly supports the local economy, with 75% of the food served sourced from Scotland. These initiatives enrich guest experience and offer meaningful environmental and cultural engagement.

The hospitality industry is increasingly shaped by new sustainability legislation, such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The EU’s CSRD directive now requires sustainability data to be third party audited and held to the same standards as financial disclosure. This will help businesses and guests to better navigate growing sustainability claims.

Sustainability will continue to be a dominant force in shaping the hospitality landscape. Fairmont continues to stride forward to meet this demand. In 2025, Fairmont is upskilling at least one conference service leader per hotel to obtain a Sustainable Event Professions Certification, which will support them to accelerate sustainability and social impact in their events. As responsible tourism shifts from a niche preference to an industry standard, Fairmont remains at the forefront, elevating what it means to travel with purpose through its commitment to environmental and social responsibility.

Fairmont is aligned with its parent company Accor, which has been a pioneer in bringing sustainable development to hospitality for more than 30 years now. The Group is still accelerating its global sustainable transformation by continuously building a more responsible hospitality. As a recent milestone for example, at the end of 2024, 36% of Accor hotels had been third-party eco-certified. This represents progress of +330% versus the end of 2023, and with a goal of 100% eco-certified hotels by the end of 2026. The Group also reinforced sustainable hotel operations for example by eliminating single-use plastic in its hotels since 2022: 50+ single-use plastic items were removed or replaced with more sustainable alternatives and 84% of our hotels have already eliminated single-use plastic from the guest experience.