Hotel: DEFRA 🇬🇧

💡 High-Level Description

The UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has been instrumental in pioneering carbon accounting standards across various sectors. In the hotel industry, the DEFRA methodology emphasizes transparency and consistency. Recognizing the varied energy consumption patterns of different hotel types, from luxury resorts to budget motels, DEFRA guidelines are designed to cater to this diversity. They factor in direct energy use, including heating, cooling, and electricity consumption, but also delve into indirect emissions. This includes emissions from supply chain activities, food and beverage services, waste disposal, and guest transportation.

What sets the DEFRA methodology apart is its emphasis on adaptability and continuous improvement. Hotels are encouraged to not just measure and report their carbon footprint but to also undertake actions towards reducing it. By providing specific guidance on carbon reduction strategies, from energy-efficient appliances to waste reduction initiatives, DEFRA's approach ensures that the hotel sector can actively contribute to broader sustainability goals.

Versioning: Add methodology_version to pin a specific Conversion Factors year (e.g., "2024"). If omitted, SQUAKE uses the latest supported year.

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Sample API Requests

A. Without audit mode (for pre-booking/quotes)

{
  "expand": ["items"],
  "items": [
    {
      "audit": false,
      "type": "hotel",
      "methodology": "DEFRA",
      "external_reference": "string",
      "country": "GB",
      "city": "London",
      "number_of_nights": 2,
      "methodology_version": "2024"
    }
  ]
}

B. With audit mode (for finalized/post-booking calculations)

{
  "expand": ["items"],
  "audit_for": "<Auditable Entity ID>",
  "items": [
    {
      "audit": true,
      "type": "hotel",
      "methodology": "DEFRA",
      "external_reference": "string",
      "country": "GB",
      "city": "London",
      "number_of_nights": 2,
      "methodology_version": "2024"
    }
  ]
}

Note: audit_for is optional. Provide when calculating on behalf of a specific Auditable entity; otherwise omit.

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API Request Items

• "type": "hotel" (required)

• "methodology": "DEFRA" (required)

• "methodology_version": DEFRA Conversion Factors year (e.g., "2024"). Optional; if omitted → latest supported year.

• "external_reference": Correlate response to request (max 128 chars).

• "country": ISO 3166-1 alpha-2/alpha-3 code (min 2, max 3).

• "city": Only "London" within "GB" is supported.

• "number_of_nights": Minimum 1.

• "audit": boolean (optional). Set to true to create immutable audit records for finalized calculations. Must be enabled for your account.

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Default values

• "country": "GB"

• "methodology_version": latest supported DEFRA year

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Sample API Response

{
  "carbon_quantity": 23000,
  "carbon_unit": "gram",
  "items": [
    {
      "carbon_quantity": 23000,
      "carbon_unit": "gram",
      "external_reference": "string",
      "type": "hotel",
      "methodology": "DEFRA",
      "methodology_version": "2024"
    }
  ]
}

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Versions

• Behavior: If methodology_version is omitted, SQUAKE automatically applies the latest supported DEFRA Conversion Factors year. Pin a specific year for reproducibility and auditability.

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Bibliography

• UK Government — Greenhouse gas emissions: Research & statistics: https://www.gov.uk/environment/greenhouse-gas-emissions#research_and_statistics

• Government Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors for Company Reporting — Methodology (latest year).