DECARBONISATION
As Senior Director of Sustainability at Radisson Hotel Group, Sven Wiltink’ s remit spans the company’ s three pillars of sustainability: planet, people and community.
“ Sustainability is business critical,” Sven explains.“ It’ s not something new for our business – it’ s part of our DNA. It’ s definitely not something new, but it’ s the integration in the entire guest and owner journey – and of course linking to our talent – which is critical for our business development.”
Corporate clients increasingly insist on robust environmental and social performance as a condition of doing business with global hotel partners.“ Our largest clients want us to be sustainable, otherwise they simply will not do business with us,” Sven says. For an international hotel company operating 1,600 hotels in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, sustainability is both strategic and structural.
While tightening regulation is also reshaping the market, the key is to stay ahead of regulation, maintaining a culture of“ we want to” rather than“ we have to” for Radisson Hotel Group.
He sees compliance, customer demand and investor scrutiny converging, creating a new baseline for the sector. Where sustainability once differentiated certain brands, he now sees it as a collective licence to operate for hospitality.“ It is not a competition element anymore,” he explains.“ We can be a front runner, but the entire industry needs to move.”
158 April 2026