WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2021: PLANT GREEN, GROW WILD, INVEST

Bad Honnef, 04 June 2021 - World Environment Day 2021, celebrated on 5 June, marks the official start of the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration. Prof. Dr. Willy Legrand teaches Hospitality Management at IU International University of Applied Sciences and he is an expert on sustainable development and business management. His comment:

"While many companies would like to return to pre-pandemic mode, they should reorient themselves: There is no way around a carbon-neutral future. More than 500,000 hotel buildings worldwide need to be retrofitted extensively to achieve better energy efficiency. They need to invest in renewable energies, green areas and let gardens go wild to enable climate protection and biodiversity. The more than 14,000 hotel buildings currently in the planning stage must also be designed and built to be guaranteed CO2-neutral to meet not only the increasing legal requirements but also the demands of guests. Because climate change and the progressive extinction of species are issues that are also increasingly affecting hotel guests. Therefore, not only on World Environment Day: Investments in the ecosystem will pay off twice for companies."

Together with experts from the hospitality sector, Prof. Legrand provides a platform to share practices and recommendations on how hotels can contribute and already do to protect the environment: The solutions nature provides: how can hotels contribute and benefit? – Hospitality Net World Panel

Sustainability is a key issue at IU International University of Applied Sciences: the university audits and offsets its CO2 emissions and is carbon neutral. It offers students a major in Sustainable Hospitality and Event Management (on-campus) and a Master's degree in Sustainable Management (distance learning).