Holiday Inn Express Newcastle claims to be the first hotel in Australia to obtain Carbon Neutral building certification under the NABERS Climate Action Pathway.
The hotel in the city’s inner west, developed operated and managed by Pro-invest Group, “was selected as a trial to obtain key learnings needed to execute the Pro-invest Net Zero Strategy across the Group’s hotel portfolio,” according to a statement from NABERS.
NABERS certification provides a rating from one to six stars for building efficiency across energy, water, waste and indoor environment to help building owners better understand their building’s performance versus other similar buildings.
Fund manager EG also recently announced that a North Sydney office in EG’s Australian Core Enhanced Fund (EG ACE) has achieved 5-star NABERS rating for waste management.
NABERS head of operations and standards Monique Alfris said that she hopes the Holiday Inn Express Newcastle will become a standard industry benchmark for hoteliers.
“It’s a remarkable milestone for the entire industry as it demonstrates how hotels can take real action to reduce carbon emissions and benefit from improved sustainability,” she said.
Pro-invest Group worked with Ecosave Australia and New Zealand, and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to devise the “Pro-invest Net Zero Strategy”.
The strategy intends to transition the Australian Hospitality Opportunity Fund II to carbon net-zero by 2030, with the view to expand the strategy across its portfolio.
“The NABERS Carbon Neutrality Certification scheme, which is in line with the Climate Active Standards, was the perfect fit for our Net Zero 2030 Strategy trial,” said deputy chair and co-chief executive officer of Pro-invest Group’s Asia Pacific region Jan Smits.