Becoming a sustainability leader in the hospitality sector with Furthr
Background
In 2024, Bob W partnered with Furthr to help deliver its bold vision to become the most environmentally responsible apart-hotel provider.
Before working with Furthr, Bob W relied mostly on secondary and spend-based data to calculate its annual GHG emissions. Jeremy Slater, COO at Bob W, says: “We had previously worked with a different emissions consultancy, but felt they weren’t interested in helping us improve our data collection standards. Once we’d engaged Furthr, it was clear they were keen to help us improve our data accuracy and processes”.
As a geographically spread out and quickly growing start-up, Bob W has faced a number of challenges on its net zero journey. Jeremy recalls: “Our main challenge was simply finding the time and resources to do detailed data collection, as well as poor historical record keeping and inconsistent document formatting - which made the task harder”. Bob W’s challenges were amplified in 2023, as it opened 12 new serviced aparthotels in a single year.
Furthr’s experts implemented effective data collection strategies and used consistent methodologies for measuring Bob W’s emissions.
About Bob W
Bob W is a hospitality start-up operating hundreds of short-stay apartment buildings in trendy neighbourhoods across Europe. With big ambitions for improving sustainability in the hospitality sector, Bob W exclusively sources sustainably-manufactured products and provides per-night emissions breakdowns to its guests. Bob W’s vision for a greener and cleaner hospitality industry inspired its campaign, calling on other hotel operators to “show us their numbers”.
Jeremy Slater
Chief Operations Officer
at Bob W
"We see Furthr as our internal ‘Super Agile Sustainability Squad’. Their recommendations and approach have truly revolutionised how we look at emissions reporting - giving us the confidence to aim higher with our Net Zero ambitions."
Support Provided
Emissions measurement & reduction strategy
Employee education and engagement
Quality offsetting
Science-based net zero strategy development
3
carbon offsetting projects chosen by Bob W’s employees
Guests receive a carbon emissions breakdown
per night
4
new strategies for collecting accurate emissions data
Partnership Highlights
Furthr's Approach
As is typical in the hospitality industry, scope 3 emissions made up 93% of Bob W’s carbon footprint in 2023. Jeremy explains, “procurement of furniture fixtures and other equipment is a considerable contributor to our emissions, and it is difficult to keep track of it, with thousands of invoices from multiple suppliers”.
To improve its data collection processes and methodologies, Furthr fully integrated into Bob W’s team, identifying and implementing new data collection strategies, as noted by Jeremy : ‘they engaged with the team, were communicative and quick to respond, and integrated well into our internal systems and comms channels”.
For instance, our experts surveyed facility managers to obtain direct energy consumption data, collated information on furniture and equipment purchases, and recommended the use of a single procurement platform to track and store supplier invoices, helping Bob W’s team identify the best suppliers to work with.
Results
Furthr’s innovative data collection strategies and methodologies have resulted in five of the top GHG categories being now based on primary activity data (grade 3 and above) in Bob W’s 2023 emissions reporting.
The use of primary activity data led to a decrease in reported emissions in some areas due to increased accuracy. For instance, emissions from Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment dropped from 500 tCO2e to just over 50 tCO2e in one year.
Reporting
Furthr also provided a detailed and comprehensive emissions report with a full breakdown for each category and useful data and narrative. According to Jeremy, “Furthr improved our understanding of the emissions data and our climate impact“.
Employee Engagement
Helping Bob W go further, our experts also hosted engaging and informative training sessions for their ‘Bobstar’ employees, on net zero and on how to identify high-quality carbon offsetting projects. This also led to a special session for Bob W’s employees to vote on a personalised selection of nature restoration and carbon removal projects.
Through the company’s dedicated dashboard provided by Furthr, Jeremy’s team now has access to detailed information and updates on the projects funded by their company.
Bob W's Projects
Biochar Smallholder Farmer Project
2023 - 22 tCO2e offset
Berlin Biodiversity Forest
2023 - 197 tCO2e offset
Lango Safe Water
2023 - 1,971 tCO2e offset
Next steps
Thanks to its collaboration with Furthr, the team at Bob W feels confident about developing the company’s net zero strategy: “Working with Furthr has given us the confidence to be true sustainability leaders in the hospitality sector. They have helped demystify the process for us – getting us on track to roll out our very own multi-decade decarbonisation plan very soon.”
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