Goal Setting and Communications
Establishing company- or hotel-level goals for responsible sourcing helps build awareness, drive progress, and demonstrate commitment to ethical and sustainable procurement.
Developing these goals should involve a cross-functional team, including procurement, finance, operations, and sustainability leaders, to ensure that all internal challenges and perspectives are considered.
Before finalizing responsible sourcing goals, engage current and potential suppliers to understand which sustainable products are available, at what cost and within what timeframe.
Goals Establishment
When possible, establishing a clear time horizon and implementation roadmap helps align suppliers, encourage market readiness, and communicate intent and progress to investors, customers, and advocacy groups.
Establishing a clear time horizon and implementation roadmap helps align suppliers, encourage market readiness, and communicate intent and progress to investors, customers, and advocacy groups.
Ideally, responsible sourcing goals are integrated into a company’s broader sustainability strategy to reinforce efforts to reduce energy, water and waste and achieve sustainability certifications such as Green Key Global.
Goals can be based on various metrics, such as:
- Total spend
- Percentage of spend
- Percentage of products holding credible third-party sustainability certifications
Green Key Global is North America’s leading sustainability certification body for the hotel and lodging industry, co-owned by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). With the highest number of certified properties in US and Canada, Green Key Global is designed by hoteliers, for hoteliers and trusted by all major hotel brands and known for delivering practical, credible, and business-friendly sustainability solutions.
Responsible Sourcing Communications
Transparent communication, both internally and externally, is essential to sustaining momentum and building trust around responsible sourcing efforts. Sharing progress toward goals encourages accountability, collaboration, and ongoing learning across teams and stakeholders.
Organizations should remain vigilant against greenwashing, which is the practice of overstating or misrepresenting environmental benefits through vague, selective, or misleading claims. To build credibility, companies should make clear, evidence-based statements about product materials, recyclability or compostability, and any verified third-party certifications. Accurate and transparent communication instills confidence among employees, customers, and investors, reinforcing the integrity of responsible sourcing initiatives.