Hospitality’s strategic role in economic resilience and climate leadership
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G7 Summit

Hospitality’s strategic role in economic resilience and climate leadership

Glenn Mandziuk

As G7 members prepare for the Kananaskis Summit, the world faces compounding pressures: climate volatility, demographic shifts, supply chain fragility and labour force imbalances. These challenges require targeted, scalable and market-ready solutions. One of the most underleveraged sectors in this equation is hospitality – a global employer, driver of infrastructure and cultural ambassador. The World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance urges G7 leaders to seize this unique opportunity to accelerate the transformation of the hospitality industry into a resilient, climate-smart and socially rooted engine for sustainable growth.

A Sector Aligned with Strategic Priorities

The G7’s commitment to the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development offers a roadmap – but implementation needs momentum. Hospitality, which employs over 300 million people globally and represents 10% of global gross domestic product, can be a cornerstone for delivering progress on climate, jobs and equity. Through net positive hospitality, the Alliance and its 40+ corporate partners representing 66,000 hotels and 8 million rooms are pioneering a model that delivers measurable environmental and socio-economic value.

G7 members can catalyse this transformation by supporting:

Universal sustainability criteria: A globally harmonised standard for hotel sustainability performance, currently under development by the Alliance with UN Tourism and the World Tourism and Travel Council.

Adoption of low-carbon infrastructure: Including energy efficiency, electrification and smart water systems within hotel assets and destinations.

Workforce resilience: Hospitality is uniquely positioned to integrate marginalised or underutilised labour forces – particularly youth, refugees and workers transitioning from disrupted sectors.

Leveraging Innovation and Investment

In 2024, the Alliance launched the Accelerators for Scalable Impact – a set of pilot programmes demonstrating how innovation in food systems, clean energy and waste reduction can deliver commercial value and environmental gains. Complementing this, the Net Positive Hospitality Venture Capital Fund is being developed to back startups and solutions that can rapidly scale sustainability in hospitality operations.

G7 support for these efforts – through co-investment, policy alignment or
public-private platforms – would send a strong signal to markets that the future of hospitality is one of leadership, not liability.

Resilience Through Collaboration

The Alliance’s governance model includes deep engagement with industry working groups, academic experts and global organisations such as the World Resources Institute, UN Tourism and the Sustainable Markets Initiative. These partnerships ensure that tools like the updated Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI 3.0) meet both scientific standards and commercial needs, particularly under growing regulatory scrutiny.

G7 leaders can play a vital role by:

  • Supporting data-driven frameworks that ensure accountability without overburdening businesses,
  • Encouraging workforce development programmes that align with national skills agendas, and
  • Championing innovation diplomacy, where climate-positive solutions are exported as part of trade, investment and infrastructure development.

A Moment for Leadership

Hospitality is not just about leisure – it is about infrastructure, jobs, energy, water and mobility. With targeted G7 support, the sector can transition from a climate risk to a climate asset. It can also serve as a model of how global alignment and local empowerment can work hand in hand.

As we look to the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and beyond, the time is right to embed sustainability into tourism’s DNA – through standards, investments and partnerships. The G7 has the diplomatic weight, financial tools and strategic foresight to make this a reality.

Let us turn the hospitality industry into a frontline contributor to the G7’s shared goals: economic security, climate stability and social resilience.