HCMI was first launched in June 2012 to enable hotels to consistently calculate and communicate their carbon footprint. It has since been adopted by over 30,000 hotels worldwide, including large hotel companies and business travel platforms. HCMI v3.0 is a consultation draft that proposes to formalise HCMI from a guidance tool into a methodology standard, with strengthened alignment with the GHG Protocol and enhanced audit-readiness to support future assurance arrangements.
HCMI v3.0 is transitioning from a guidance tool into a methodology standard with clear scope, boundaries, definitions, data requirements, calculation rules, and version control under a structured review cycle.
The methodology now incorporates additional selected Scope 3 categories (Category 1, 3, and 5) to capture value chain emissions linked to hotel operations, including five purchased goods and services expense fields (laundry, food and beverage, housekeeping, landscaping, repairs and maintenance), upstream fuel and energy-related activities (FERA), and waste converted into emissions.
Enhanced calculation methods support greater uniformity across hotels. This includes the option to enter manual emission factors, mandatory refrigerant reporting as a potentially material Scope 1 source (with updated estimation values and a decision tree based on equipment age and service schedule), and mileage-based mobile fuel calculations (with the removal of the 1% uplift option).
HCMI v3.0 retains occupied room-night as the standard external reporting denominator. Additional outputs, including per guest-night to support internal analysis and alignment with WSHA’s Universal Sustainability KPIs, and per property area for internal analysis and management purposes, are also available.
The methodology has been developed to align more closely with the GHG Protocol and other recognised carbon accounting practices, supporting compatibility with global reporting frameworks.
The standard’s language, definitions, and data requirements have been strengthened to support future assurance and verification arrangements, subject to WSHA’s published assurance system when available. Until the assurance system is published and effective, results should be treated as self-reported and unassured.
We invite all stakeholders to review the draft standard and share feedback via the survey below. The survey covers topics including Scope 3 boundaries, calculation consistency, GHG Protocol alignment, data quality, and auditability. Multiple submissions per organisation are welcome.