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In Vietnam, for example, we have
supported the NGO, Smile Group, which
aims to help people living with HIV/
AIDS in Ho Chi Minh City. We also sup-
port the Green Youth Collective (GYC),
an NGO that is creating a green careers
training program for socially vulnerable
young people in Ho Chi Minh City. In
its first year, Accor is supporting 12
at-risk youths to take courses and gain
practical experience to prepare them
for a number of green career paths,
like urban gardening, green roofs and
walls, organic farms and soil irrigation.
The program is keeping these youths
off the streets and providing them with
valuable skills for a growing economic
sector. As an added bonus, several of
our hotels in Ho Chi Minh City have
already expressed interest in working
with GYC to set up herb gardens to sup-
port their kitchens.
It is said that companies, especially
multinational and foreign corpora-
tions, practice CSR as a way of en-
hancing their image and because of
public pressure. What do you think?
From experience, if you work on
a good project without sharing what
you are doing with your owners, busi-
ness partners, guests, shareholders or
the public, the scope remains relatively
small and limited. But if you let people
know what you are doing and engage
them, you can raise the scope and can
do much more.
This is one of the main reasons why
we launched PLANET 21 a few years
ago. As in every aspect of the business,
you need coalitions and allies to support
your efforts and push your agendas to
the next level. Accor had been working
on CSR for over two decades, but in the
past, communications were rather inter-
nally-focused. With PLANET 21, we de-
veloped a comprehensive external com-
munication platform to share our efforts
with all stakeholders. The response
has been positive and we’ve already
received some accolades for these ef-
forts. Furthermore, the increased atten-
tion has enabled us to further expand
our CSR scope, share our best practices
and better engage with the communi-
ties where we operate to begin to make
some meaningful differences.
However, there is a fine line in all
of this. We have to be very careful to
balance our CSR actions against our
communications, to avoid crossing over
into green-washing. Having a better
corporate image and reputation is, and
always should be, an indirect result of
implementing good CSR programs, not
the other way around.
How would you define the PLANET
21 concept in Accor’s hotels around
Vietnam?
PLANET 21 is Accor’s worldwide sus-
tainable development program which
gives the hotels the tools and guide-
lines that touch on all aspects of hotel
operation, including our environmental
impacts, such as reducing energy and
carbon emissions, limiting the waste we
produce and protecting the biodiver-
sity of our local ecosystems. It also in-
volves how we interact with society, for
example, the health of our employees
and guests, supporting local economies
through procurement and ensuring we
have a diverse and qualified workforce.
The name PLANET 21 refers to
Agenda 21, the action plan adopted
by 173 Heads of State at the 1992
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and
represents the urgent need to focus our
efforts now in the 21st century for a
better future.
With PLANET 21, Accor has made
21 commitments to sustainable devel-
opment and CSR with targets for the
year 2015 and all 16 hotels in Vietnam
are taking part in this journey.