Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting Mechanism for Hotel Industry: A Case of Sri Lanka

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions have been recognized as one of the most significant factors that affect the global climate change. Many researches have indicated that tourism sector has a high impact to the global GHG emissions. Number of organizations have introduced GHG emission reporting mechanisms that can be adhered to report the emissions. Reporting the GHG emissions (or calculating the carbon footprint) is recognized as the primary step of the GHG emission mitigation process. However, these reporting mechanisms do not have industry specific guidelines which is identified as a major drawback. Purpose of this study is to establish a GHG emission reporting mechanism for hotel industry with specific emphasis to Sri Lanka. Based on the Case study approach a qualitative analysis has been carried out in five of the five-star hotels located in the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The outline derived for the emission reporting mechanism is the key finding of this study which can be used to develop a GHG emission reporting guideline for hotel industry.