Two Accor-managed hotels on opposite sides of the world have earned their first Green Globe sustainability certification within days of each other in September 2026: Sofitel Cairo Downtown Nile in Egypt and Grand Mercure Medan Angkasa in Indonesia, the first hotel in Sumatra to achieve the accreditation.
At Sofitel Cairo Downtown Nile, eleven staff members sit on a dedicated Green Team Committee overseeing water and energy initiatives, including low-flow taps and showerheads, motion-sensor restroom fixtures, a guest linen and towel reuse programme, and a 2026 “Water Preservation Week” of staff training. The hotel has also installed an electric vehicle charging station, a green wall in its second-floor restaurant, and a Winnow AI device that tracks daily kitchen food waste, alongside an onsite organic farm that cuts down on food transport emissions. General manager Ahmed Shandawili said the certification was “a meaningful milestone for us all,” adding that the hotel is “deeply committed to integrating sustainable practices into every aspect of our operations.”
A first for Sumatra
In Medan, Grand Mercure Medan Angkasa built its certification around a Sustainability Management Plan covering quality, socioeconomic impact, cultural heritage, health and safety. The hotel replaced ageing water pumps with low-watt, energy-efficient units, installed LED lighting and smart energy monitoring, and built a rooftop hydroponic garden to supply its kitchens. Its “Share for Care” programme has run for more than four and a half years, distributing 30 to 40 boxes of surplus food daily and more than 50,000 meals in total, alongside weekly visits to a local orphanage. General manager Rachmad Suward called the certification “both a proud accomplishment and a source of motivation for us to continuously enhance sustainability practices.”
Why it matters
Both certifications add to a growing list of hotels seeking independent verification of their environmental and social claims, a trend given fresh urgency by incoming EU rules that require sustainability labels to be independently verified. For destinations like Cairo and Medan that depend on tourism revenue but face real resource pressures, from Nile water use to Sumatra’s energy grid, certifications that reward measurable water, energy and food-waste reductions offer a template other properties in the region are likely to follow.
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