Monday, September 8, 2008

September 8, 2008

Washington DC, September 4, 2008 --The Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington DC has released its first Sustainability Report this month. The report examines the Willard's environmental and social performance, with comparisons of the progress of its sustainable development initiatives, started in 2005 as "Willard InterContinental, The Next 100 Years". Based on its Triple Bottom Line strategy of Economic Prosperity, Social Responsibility and Environmental Protection, the report highlights the hotel's strategy as well as its results. The report adheres to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an internationally recognized standard for sustainability reporting. Encouraged by the direction of InterContinental's commitment to Corporate Responsibility, the Willard sought out Washington, D.C.-based EnviRelation to produce the report.

The Willard InterContinental Sustainability Report 2007 is available online along with detailed information on the Willard's sustainability initiatives at http://willarddc.com/sd/, and also through EnviRelation's Web site, www.envirelation.com.

Beyond including the generally established indicators for Corporate Social Responsibility reporting, the report analyzes and addresses the hotel's impact on climate change. It incorporates vanguard metrics for the hospitality industry, examining the hotel's net carbon footprint from operations, calculated from EnviRelation's Emissions Management Services, which evaluates the distribution and relation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions per Occupied Room (GEPOR.)

"The Willard enjoys an incredible legacy which is summarized in its vision as "America's Hotel" due to its location between the two most powerful political institutions of the world - the White House and the U.S. Congress - and its history," explains Hervé Houdré, the hotel's General Manager. "We feel that we have an obligation to our industry and our world to show the way through Sustainable Hospitality by ensuring that the legacy of our property remains strong in the years to come."

"The Willard's Sustainability Report represents one step further in our vision to set a clear standard for sustainability reporting for the hospitality industry, including calculation methodologies," commented Walker Lunn, EnviRelation's founder and manager.

Media Contact
Eric Ricaurte, Tel. 202.280.0203, eric@envirelation.com
Barbara Bahny-David, Tel 202-637-7309, barbara.bahny@ihg.com