Hyatt Hotels Corp – Lobbying Governance & Transparency

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Lobbying Governance

Overall Assessment	Analysis	Score
Moderate	Hyatt Hotels Corp has established a formal process to govern its indirect climate policy engagement through trade associations and NGO partnerships but does not provide governance for direct lobbying efforts. According to the company, “Hyatt currently engages indirectly on climate change policy through trade associations or NGO partners rather than direct involvement such as lobbying,” and has implemented a review mechanism whereby “any relevant and new support for an association or initiatives are identified by functional or regional representatives and raised to the environmental sustainability department and the ESG Steering Committee to ensure consistency with the Company strategy.” The policy further states that “any issues raised would be escalated to the executive level by the Environmental Sustainability Department,” and that “we utilize our annual disclosures to the CDP Climate Change program to assess whether the public policy positions of trade associations with which Hyatt has an affiliation are consistent with our own climate change strategy.” While this indicates that indirect lobbying is monitored and overseen by a formal body—the ESG Steering Committee—the company does not disclose any governance process for direct lobbying efforts or a public commitment to align engagement activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement, noting that it “do not plan to have one in the next two years.” View Sources	C

Overall Assessment

Analysis

Score

Moderate

Hyatt Hotels Corp has established a formal process to govern its indirect climate policy engagement through trade associations and NGO partnerships but does not provide governance for direct lobbying efforts. According to the company, “Hyatt currently engages indirectly on climate change policy through trade associations or NGO partners rather than direct involvement such as lobbying,” and has implemented a review mechanism whereby “any relevant and new support for an association or initiatives are identified by functional or regional representatives and raised to the environmental sustainability department and the ESG Steering Committee to ensure consistency with the Company strategy.” The policy further states that “any issues raised would be escalated to the executive level by the Environmental Sustainability Department,” and that “we utilize our annual disclosures to the CDP Climate Change program to assess whether the public policy positions of trade associations with which Hyatt has an affiliation are consistent with our own climate change strategy.” While this indicates that indirect lobbying is monitored and overseen by a formal body—the ESG Steering Committee—the company does not disclose any governance process for direct lobbying efforts or a public commitment to align engagement activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement, noting that it “do not plan to have one in the next two years.”

View Sources

Lobbying Transparency

Overall Assessment	Analysis	Score
Limited	Hyatt provides only limited insight into its climate-related lobbying. It indicates that it works on climate issues through the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and that Hyatt Regency Sydney participates in the City of Sydney-led Sustainable Destinations Partnership, but it never names a particular bill, regulation, or rule it has tried to influence, referring instead to broad themes such as food-waste reduction and energy-efficiency programmes. The company does describe one indirect mechanism—participation in trade-association sustainability committees, noting that its CEO chairs the AHLA board—yet it does not set out any direct tools (letters, consultations, meetings) or identify which government bodies or officials are approached. Similarly, the outcomes it seeks are expressed only in general terms, for example the partnership’s intention to "improve the energy, water, and waste efficiency of buildings," "increase the uptake of renewable energy," and "engage with regulators on major environmental policy and regulatory issues," without defining the specific policy changes or targets Hyatt is advocating. As a result, the disclosures reveal broad engagement on climate matters but leave the substance, methods, and objectives of that lobbying largely undefined.	D