Resource Efficiency and Emission Reduction in Hotels: The Role of Supply Chains – A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This study conducts a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to examine resource efficiency and emission reduction in the hotel sector, with a particular focus on the neglected role of supply chain–related emission linkages. Drawing on 41 peer-reviewed publications from 2005 to 2024 indexed in Scopus, the review integrates the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol framework with Stakeholder Theory to analyse how hotel–stakeholder interactions shape emission management across Scopes 1, 2, and 3. Despite growing attention to hotel sustainability, findings reveal that the existing body of research remains heavily concentrated on operational emissions mainly energy, water, and waste while indirect, supply chain–based (Scope 3) emissions are conceptually underdeveloped and methodologically fragmented. The review identifies three dominant thematic clusters: (1) Measurement and Monitoring, which highlights the absence of standardized methodologies and fragmented reporting across emission scopes; (2) Sustainability Practices and Strategies, which documents managerial and operational initiatives such as energy conservation, water efficiency, and waste minimisation, yet finds limited integration with supply chain collaboration; and (3) Barriers and Governance Challenges, which point to financial, informational, and institutional constraints that hinder systematic emission management. Collectively, these patterns underscore a persistent imbalance between hotels’ internal sustainability actions and their external supply chain relationships, limiting progress toward holistic carbon accountability. Building on these insights, this paper develops a theory-informed conceptual framework linking stakeholder pressures—regulatory, normative, and voluntary to hotels’ operational and supply chain practices that collectively determine environmental performance outcomes. The model positions hotels as intermediaries between external and internal actors who shape the adoption, measurement, and governance of emission practices. By embedding Stakeholder Theory within the GHG Protocol’s three-scope architecture, the framework advances an integrated understanding of how accountability and resource interdependence operate across hotel value chains. This review contributes to sustainability and hospitality management scholarship in three key ways: first, by offering the first Stakeholder Theory–informed synthesis of hotel emission management across Scopes 1–3; second, by conceptualising multi-stakeholder pathways for improving resource efficiency and emission governance; and third, by proposing a research agenda that emphasises supply chain collaboration, digital monitoring tools, and cross-country policy benchmarking. The study concludes that achieving net-zero targets in hospitality requires the extension of emission measurement beyond hotel premises to encompass suppliers, logistics, and post-consumption processes transforming sustainability from a property-level initiative into a value-chain-wide governance system.