Green loans further US agenda
June 19, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under Americas, Government, News
RIO DE JANEIRO, 19 June 2012: At the RIO+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Marriott International and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced a partnership to support new environmentally-sustainable hotel development in growth markets in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to a Memorandum of Understanding, OPIC will provide long-term loans to hotel owners, on the condition they use Marriott as the management or franchising partner.
Hotel projects will be evaluated on their merits and approved according to regular OPIC due diligence procedures. OPIC financing for the hotel projects could reach up to US$200 million.
The OPIC-Marriott partnership could help to jump start sustainable hotel development in emerging markets where water and energy resources may be limited.
The loans will be available to hotel owners to fund projects across Marriott’s 14 lodging brands, but projects must comply with environmentally-sustainable standards such as the US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) programme.
“This is an exciting collaboration to drive sustainable hotel development in emerging markets,” said Marriott International vice president of social responsibility, Mari Snyder.
OPIC committed US$1.1 billion in financing to the renewable resources sector last year, roughly tripling commitments from the previous year.
Since 2008, Marriott has contributed US$2 million to the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation to protect 1.4 million acres of rainforest in Brazil. This week, Marriott also announced its next 10n hotels opening in Brazil will contribute US$500,000 to sustain the REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) project.
There are no details of what Marriott is currently accomplishing in Asia to back sustainable growth although the group is one of the largest hotel chains in the region.
Marriott does say it is committed to reducing water consumption by 20% at all of its hotels by 2020 and is empowering hotel development partners to build green hotels. For more information about Marriott’s sustainability efforts visit www.marriott.com/environment.
OPIC is the US Government’s development finance institution. It mobilises private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances US foreign policy particularly in emerging economies.
It assists US businesses to gain footholds in emerging markets by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds. In so doing it builds bridges for the US administration to soft sell political agendas.
Source: Businesswire
Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported nearly US$200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated US$75 billion. Exports and supported more than 276,000 American jobs. For more information, visit www.OPIC.gov. BUSINESS WIRE.
Contacts
Marriott International
In Thailand, we must aware and try not to let the bad people destroy forest both directly and indirectly for building accommodation resorts, it’s harmful to environment and also increases carbon emission.