Responsible Business

With hotels in thousands of communities all over the world, our business and brands touch the lives of millions of people every day. By caring for our guests and colleagues, working in partnership with our hotel owners, protecting the environment and giving back to our communities, we deliver our purpose of True Hospitality for Good. Our actions are shaped by a culture of strong governance, clear policies and a series of ambitious commitments set out in our Journey to Tomorrow 2030 responsible business plan.

Our approach to responsible business shapes our operations and the strategic investments we’re making to drive performance and strengthen our enterprise, recognising that how we grow and create positive change for the greater good is being followed more than ever by our stakeholders.

Key to delivering our strategic priority to care for our people, communities and planet is our Journey to Tomorrow plan. This is underpinned by commitments to our purpose, values, behaviours, workplace culture, risk appetite, and strong governance and accountability.

In 2021, we launched Journey to Tomorrow – our 10-year plan to help shape the future of responsible travel together with those who stay, work and partner with us. Aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it’s a powerful framework for how we can focus our efforts to deliver our purpose of True Hospitality for Good in five key areas: our people; communities; carbon & energy; waste; and water.

Ensuring we operate thoughtfully and grow sustainably, it’s a plan that will make IHG a stronger company, where we will build upon our inclusive culture and help people thrive. A plan that reflects the needs of our communities, from supporting social change to advancing human rights. And a plan that helps protect the planet now and for generations to come.

We encourage IHG hotels to operate with respect for their surroundings, as well as participating in conservation initiatives to safeguard local flora and fauna, protecting and regenerating nature where possible.

The actions outlined in our Journey to Tomorrow Responsible Business plan contribute to preserving the planet's biodiversity, whether through reducing the consumption of energy and water at our hotels, minimising the use of single-use items or engaging with suppliers that are driving positive change.

We are committed to ensuring our actions contribute to the UN SDGs and have aligned our Journey to Tomorrow programme to those goals where we feel we can have most impact. To ensure we stay on track, we disclose our progress against a set of performance metrics on an annual basis. Our 2023 progress can be found in our Responsible Business Report.

Disclosure and transparency are important to us at IHG, and we ensure that progress against our goals is shared publicly. Our performance for the year can be found in our Responsible Business Report.

We participate in numerous ESG questionnaires and rating indices, including the S&P Global Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), MSCI, Sustainalytics, FTSE4Good, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ESG and Workforce Disclosure Index (WDI).

Our reporting integrates the recommendations of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

At the core of our responsible business commitment is strong leadership. The Board oversees our ethical standards of governance, reinforcing our culture, values and dedication to responsible business conduct. The CEO, Executive Committee, and senior leaders ensure that governance is embedded, measured and upheld in our daily operations.

The Board receives support from its principal committees to ensure IHG fulfils its strategic objectives and the creation of sustainable value for shareholders, while taking into account the impacts on, and interests of, various stakeholders.

Our Responsible Business Committee is specifically tasked with reviewing IHG’s responsible business objectives and strategy. This encompasses assessing the impact of our strategy on environmental, social, community and human rights issues. Additionally, the Committee evaluates our strategic approach to sustainable development and responsible procurement. Key considerations and recommendations are then shared with the Group Board. 

In 2023, Senior Independent Non-Executive Director Graham Allan took over responsibility as Chair of the Responsible Business Committee, overseeing its role of monitoring progress against the Group’s 2030 responsible business commitments set out in our Journey to Tomorrow plan. Focus areas have included climate risk reporting and reviewing the Group’s responsible procurement programme, its human rights programme and Modern Slavery Statement, plus the inclusion of ESG metrics in the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) for Executive Directors and senior leaders.

For more on our governance structures, see our 2023 Annual Report and pages 9-10 of our Responsible Business Report.

To read our policies, including the Code of Conduct, click here.