Swiss Hotel Group Announces It’s Climate Neutral
24th November 2019
The Swiss Tschuggen Hotel Group which runs a total of five properties including four and five star hotels in St. Moritz and Arosa has announced it has gone CO2 neutral by a combination of dramatically reducing the groups actual CO2 output and offsetting the CO2 emissions it still makes.
In that latter part of it’s initiative, the group has partnered with the myclimate “Cause We Care” project. Money raised is invested in the rehabilitation of a raised bog in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and a mountain gorilla project in Rwanda.
The group has many initiatives to cut CO2 emissions but they include the use of electricity generated exclusively from alpine hydropower, the use of heat-exchangers and heat recovery systems for ventilation and wastewater and ongoing conversion to technical systems that reduce energy consumption.
Their flagship green accommodation is the Valsana Hotel and Apartments which saw a new building open in December 2017 using sustainable construction practices. It also features an ice battery in the cellar which means that the entire building complex can be heated without the need for fossil fuels meaning that the hotel generates practically no CO2 emissions.
Although the Tschuggen Group has taken on responsibility for all emissions that originate from their hotels from check-in to check-out with no additional costs for their guests, guests are given the opportunity to offset their own CO2 emissions resulting from their journeys to and from the hotels.
Trips are grouped in to four categories with corresponding prices: From Switzerland by car, from Europe by car, from Europe by plane and from outside Europe by plane. Any money paid by guests to offset their emissions will be donated in full to the myclimate mountain gorilla project in Rwanda.
To encourage travel with minimum CO2 emissions to their hotels the group offer a pick-up service for guests arriving by train and free charging stations for electric vehicles for guests.