Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN), one of the world's largest hospitality companies, ranks number one in the hospitality industry and among the top 10 percent in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Global 500 Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index.
With a carbon disclosure score of 83, this was the first appearance for Wyndham Worldwide on the annual index by the CDP, which represents 551 institutional investors with $71 trillion in assets. CDP commended Wyndham Worldwide for its approach to the disclosure of climate change information.
"With operations in over 100,000 locations in nearly 100 countries, reducing our carbon footprint is not only the right thing for the environment, but the right thing for our business," says Stephen P. Holmes, chairman and CEO, Wyndham Worldwide. "Measurements like the CDP Index provide us with actionable data to keep our operations efficient, as well as validation that our commitment, investment, and strategies are on the right trajectory."
With a wide and growing range of businesses, Wyndham Worldwide includes Wyndham Hotel Group, the world's largest hotel company based on number of properties; Wyndham Exchange & Rentals, the world's largest member-based vacation exchange network and marketer of serviced vacation rentals; and Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the world's largest vacation ownership business.
The Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index, compiled by PwC on behalf of CDP provides an evaluation tool for institutional investors and other stakeholders. In 2011, it comprises 55 companies from the S&P 500 Index based on analysis of the responses to CDP's questionnaire which focused on greenhouse gas emissions, emissions reduction targets and risks and opportunities associated with climate change. Companies are scored on their climate change disclosure and high scores indicate good internal data management and understanding of climate change related issues affecting the company.
"Companies that make the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index have demonstrated good internal data management practices for understanding greenhouse gas emissions," says Paul Simpson, chief executive officer, Carbon Disclosure Project. "They have shown a strong awareness of the business issues related to climate change including climate-related risks and opportunities. Those organizations that give clear consideration to measuring and reporting on climate change issues will be best placed to capitalize on the opportunities from managing them."
Wyndham Worldwide has invested in exploring and adopting innovative sustainable practices through its Wyndham Green program, which focuses on sustainability across the global company. During the past five years, Wyndham Worldwide has placed the program among its top five strategic priorities across the company, successfully implementing energy efficient strategies with a goal to reduce emissions by 12% by 2016, and 20% by 2020. In June, the company released its first Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) report, reflecting the strategies, efforts, and results across the company's diverse businesses.
"Accurate carbon measurement is a challenge for the hospitality industry, making the CDP results particularly valuable in helping set a standard for a widely diverse range of facilities, properties, and business models around the world," says Faith Taylor, vice president of sustainability and innovation at Wyndham Worldwide. "As we are the only global hospitality company with corporate offices, hotels, resorts, rentals, and timeshare properties, we have focused our most recent efforts developing a custom eco-software tool to evaluate our efforts across our portfolio."
The CDP results are especially timely for Wyndham Worldwide, as the company prepares for its annual Global Green Day on October 19. Through celebrations, educational activities, and programs, the 2011 Wyndham Worldwide Global Green Day is designed to reinforce the company's carbon footprint reduction goals to over 26,000 associates at locations around the world.
"While we maintain a sustainability focus every day, our Global Green Day event is a special opportunity for our company to celebrate the progress we have made, and remind us of our next goal we are working toward," says Holmes. "We always remind ourselves that sustainability is a journey, rather than a particular destination, and so as soon as we reach a goal, we immediately set our sights even higher."
The S&P 500 Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index can be found at www.cdproject.net. For more information on sustainability programs at Wyndham Worldwide, please visit www.WyndhamGreen.com.
About Wyndham Worldwide
As one of the world's largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide offers individual consumers and business-to-business customers a broad suite of hospitality services and products across various accommodation alternatives and price ranges through its premier portfolio of world-renowned brands. Wyndham Worldwide encompasses approximately 7,380 franchised hotels and vacation ownership resorts with approximately 633,700 rooms worldwide. Wyndham Exchange & Rentals offers leisure travelers, including its 3.8 million members, access to approximately 97,000 vacation properties located in approximately 100 countries. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of vacation ownership resorts serving nearly 815,000 owners throughout North America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Wyndham Worldwide, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., employs approximately 26,000 employees globally.