Latest news with #Promises
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Promises Take Center Stage in Canara HSBC Life Insurance's New Campaign Featuring Jasprit Bumrah and Sanjana Ganesan
New Campaign Celebrates the Power of Promises in Life and Legacy NEW DELHI, July 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited ("Canara HSBC Life Insurance") today announced the launch of its new brand campaign featuring the real-life couple, cricket legend Jasprit Bumrah and media personality Sanjana Ganesan. The campaign reinforces the company's aim to feature as a trusted partner in fulfilling life's long-term promises and marks the next chapter in this partnership through a high-impact 360° marketing rollout. Rooted in the brand's philosophy of being a 'Promises ka Partner', the campaign features two engaging films that highlight deeply personal reflections between Jasprit and Sanjana. The campaign films portray promises not just as words, but as enduring commitments that shape families, futures, and legacies. In the TVC, Jasprit contemplates the fleeting nature of fame and how the value of personal commitments, particularly those made to a life partner, stay strong. Sanjana's presence in the narrative offers emotional balance and connection, underscoring the power of mutual support in long-term planning. Both narratives are anchored in authenticity, trust, and emotional foresight- values that align closely with Canara HSBC Life Insurance's aim in helping individuals plan and protect their futures. Speaking about the campaign, Mr. Rishi Mathur, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Distribution Officer- Alternate Channels, Canara HSBC Life Insurance, said: "At Canara HSBC Life Insurance our aim is to engage audiences with stories that reflect real-life aspirations and move beyond transactional conversations around insurance. Jasprit and Sanjana bring this to life beautifully, not just as public figures, but as a couple navigating life's promises together. Through this campaign, we continue to strengthen our commitment to being a dependable partner in those promises." Jasprit Bumrah, while commenting on the campaign launch, said, "Canara HSBC Life Insurance's philosophy of being a 'Promises ka Partner' resonates with me on a personal level. In both cricket and life, it's the long-term commitments, ones made quietly and upheld consistently, that truly define you. The films reflect this idea, showing how promises made to loved ones are not just emotional in nature, but foundational to a future that is secure. It's a message I believe in deeply." Shoojit Sircar, Director of the brand films, said, "It was really great to work with Jasprit and Sanjana, it was lovely to bring out a side of their relationship, their partnership which hasn't been seen before. I think with these films we were able to showcase the brand promise in a very simple and charming way. What made this possible was the brand's clarity and their trust in the process. Working with Canara HSBC Life Insurance & Pravis felt less like a usual campaign and more like a lovely partnership." Targeted at young couples, modern families, and financially aware individuals, the campaign is built around insurance as a tool for empowerment rather than fear. It will be rolled out across TV, digital, social media, and other platforms as part of a multi-touchpoint strategy. The creative team behind the campaign is Gurgaon based, PRAVIS consulting. Click here to watch the film: YouTube: Instagram: LinkedIn: About Canara HSBC Life Insurance: Incorporated in 2007, Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited is promoted by Canara Bank and HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited. Punjab National Bank is also a shareholder of the Company. As a bancassurance led insurance company with its corporate office at Gurugram, Haryana and more than 100 branch offices as of March 2025, pan India, Canara HSBC Life brings together the trust and market knowledge of public and private banks. For more than 17 years now, the Company sells and services customers through multiple channels and well diversified network of Canara Bank and the Indian branch of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in multiple cities across the country. The Company has a vast portfolio of life insurance solutions and offers various products across individual and group space comprising of life, health, term plans, retirement solutions, credit life and employee benefit segments through partner banks, digital, and direct field force. With an aim to provide simpler insurance and faster claim process, the Company intends to keep the promises of their customers alive with their 'Promises Ka Partner' philosophy. Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited is proposing, subject to receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other considerations, to make an initial public offering of its equity shares and has filed a draft red herring prospectus dated April 28, 2025 ("DRHP") with the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI"). The DRHP is available on the website of the Company at the SEBI at the website of National Stock Exchange of India Limited at and the website of BSE Limited at and the respective websites of the Lead Managers at and Investors should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk. For details, potential investors should refer to the RHP which may be filed with the Registrar of Companies, Delhi and Haryana at New Delhi, in the future, including the section titled "Risk Factors". Potential investors should not rely on the DRHP filed with the SEBI, but should instead rely only on the RHP, in making any investment decision. The equity shares proposed to be offered in the initial public offering may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in transactions not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. There will be no public offer of securities in the United States. Photo: View original content to download multimedia:
Scoop
5 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Mediawatch: Ministers' 'Helpful' Handouts Go Multimedia
, Mediawatch Presenter "Dear Prime Minister: the rise in crime and antisocial behaviour since COVID 19 struck is stark and confronting. We ask that you please take urgent action to support recovery and retain our reputation as a safe city and country." That was the message of a full-page ad in the Weekend Herald placed by groups representing Auckland businesses, accusing the government of failing to act on past promises. It was almost identical to a similar plea to a previous PM four years ago. The following day the current PM was the target of another open letter advert in the Sunday papers. This one - placed by electricity retailers, users and Consumer NZ - called on him to fix "a broken energy sector". That campaign also featured on TVNZ's Q+A show the same day, and in a front-page New Zealand Herald story the next day, the Minister of Energy - the aptly named Simon Watts - acknowledged our electricity market was "not functioning as well as it should". But it's not the first time that he's been singled out by a lobbying campaign in public. In June, pro-electrification group Rewiring NZ deployed AI animation to turn him into a superhero in ads that urged the public to make it an election issue - and it used a billboard near the Beehive to make sure that he didn't miss it. TVNZ's Q+A said lobby groups like Federated Farmers and the Sensible Sentencing Trust had used the same spot for the same reason in other campaigns. But do ministers targeted by these ads even notice them? "Yes, I do. On the way to the airport, out of Parliament and down onto the quays there - it's pretty hard to not to," National's Chris Bishop told TVNZ's Whena Owen. But are campaigns singling out individual politicians in public really effective? Most ministers are also lobbied behind the scenes by the same special interest groups. Being hectored publicly as well could make them more inclined to dig in rather than give in. "Lobby groups have always taken out ads in newspapers. Now they're moving it to digital billboards which can be up longer and can be cheaper," said Dr Claire Robinson, the author of Promises, Promises: 80 years of Wooing New Zealand Voters. "They can be located at traffic lights where ministerial cars have to stop. It's probably a really good way of getting something under the nose of a cabinet minister who may not open the newspaper anymore in the morning to see it there." "If you want to lobby a minister now you've got not only print, radio and TV - and you've got your own channels, social media and even LinkedIn posts. There's a complete industry in being able to disseminate your messages, hoping that one of them is going to get through," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. Politicians going multimedia Politicians aren't shy about getting their own messages out to the media either - and have specialised staff to do it. Journalists' email inboxes are clogged with media statements from ministers and MPs hoping that their comments will make it into the media's coverage. And now they are going multimedia too. Last weekend reporters got video of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio greeting Winston Peters, along with a media statement, after an ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Malaysia, which was attended by Peters. NZ First posted that footage on Facebook on the day of the meeting - and then there was another version last Tuesday featuring Peters looking statesmanlike, with a TikTok-type soundtrack added. The same day the streaming show Herald Now ran the Rubio footage during an interview with Peters. Should media be wary of airing images hand-picked by ministers' staff? "Yes, because by using it they're essentially using party generated pictures and feeding the beast - and exacerbating the rule-breaking of political parties," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. "Anything that is generated through party social media channels really needs to be stopped at the door. "But at the same time the media loses all perspective when a PM or foreign minister meets a US president or Secretary of State. In 2014, photos of John Key playing golf with Obama were splashed across the newspapers . . . and nobody asked who took the photos back then." MPs offering mp3s Recently reporters have also received sound bites from ministers along with standard media statements. Last week, Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee announced anti-money laundering law changes to make managing property easier through family trusts. The release included a minute-long MP3 clip of her reading out some of the key points - and 'video on request'. In June her office also sent three separate sound bites about the 'Three Strikes' law coming into force. Why send selected comments rather than allow reporters to record their own in a media conference in the usual way? "Quite often we'll put out a media release, then we get all the phone calls looking for a grab. Why not give a grab ourselves?" McKee told Mediawatch. RNZ's reporters in the press gallery in Parliament told Mediawatch they wouldn't use audio supplied under those circumstances. "I believe it has been picked up by a couple of radio stations but I haven't actually tracked it myself." ACT leader David Seymour has spoken about bypassing the media because they "abuse their power to edit" and refused to allow ACT's ministers to appear on RNZ's Morning Report. He's even appealed for funds from ACT supporters to fund his own online media channels. Is McKee supplying audio comments as a substitute for interviews or media conferences at which she could be challenged or questioned by reporters? "That's not the reason. It's actually realising that our media are quite stretched - for time and for people," McKee told Mediawatch. On that issue of the family trusts and anti-money laundering laws, McKee was interviewed by RNZ news after sending out the statement and audio. "I've always made myself available to the media. Should they want a sound grab directly, I'm happy to give it. We just thought that this would help the media, especially if they do have those tight deadlines. And of course some have less staff now." "It doesn't take me long to add a couple of 10-second sound bites to the media releases we put out. And of course if it is being picked up then it is useful to some. So we'll continue to do it." McKee says she hasn't tracked which media outlets have used the supplied audio. Another minister handing out sound bites with media statements lately is Associate Minister of Transport James Meager. "Now is the perfect time to look ahead toward building a resilient maritime economy for future generations," he said in mid-June, announcing pumped-up investment in navigation services for shipping. One week later, Meager sent out three more sound bites, about a funding boost for lifesaving. Meager credits his press secretary, former Newstalk ZB journalist Blake Benny. "He came to me with the idea that if we include some audio grabs with our press releases, it makes the job of producers and radio reporters so much easier," Meager told Mediawatch. If so, it might mean not having to answer questions about contestable claims made in statements - or confront contradictions? "There's always the option for journalists who want to ring up and press on some of the details in those press releases. I'm always happy to take interviews. The only time I decline would be if it's outside my portfolio or if I literally can't do them." Few ministers ever issue statements on matters outside their portfolio - and Meager declined to say which outlets had broadcast his recorded statements. More to come? Before he became an MP, he set up an online archive of political ads - - with partner Dr Ashley Murchison, an expert who wrote a PhD about responses to political ads. Some of Nicole McKee's recent media statements said video was available on request as well. Meager doesn't offer that - yet. "But if we had the resources and that made people's lives easier then it might be something that we look into. I used to work as a press secretary and I think I wish I'd been smart enough to think of this six years ago," he told Mediawatch. But he says he and other ministers will be offering the media more multimedia stuff in future. "I'm doing a couple (of soundbites) this weekend for a couple of announcements we're making in the top of the South so hopefully they'll be picked up. In the weekend when staffing levels are lower, that might be a little bit helpful too." Exploiting a week spot "Political parties have always used new technology to try and get their messages across - even going back to Michael Joseph Savage in 1938 when he used film, which was a new technology back then," Dr Claire Robinson told Mediawatch. "I think that the politicians hope that the time-poor media will just insert (the content) into coverage. But there's something deeper going on here because they're exploiting the whopping decline in journalism employment," said Dr Robinson, who is also the current chief of Toi Mai / the Workforce Development Council, which published a development plan for journalism in 2024. "That decline is because of government-enabled inaction or policies that have seen that advertising money that used to sustain news media organisations go offshore. In the old days (they) would have more scrutiny and political parties are now exploiting that gap and creating their own media." Bending the rules for funding the ads In a recent piece for The Post, Dr Robinson said the public pays for political parties' digital media messaging - but shouldn't be paying for some of it. "The rules are really clear. You can only electioneer using public funds in the three months prior to an election campaign. The rest of the time parties are enabled to create information, but not to electioneer with social media," Dr Robinson told Mediawatch. She says the NZ First party publishing footage of Winston Peters in Malaysia as foreign minister on social media is an example of the problem. "It has their party logo and is using Peters' role in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs for party purposes. It doesn't say 'Vote for NZ First' but the boundaries are blurred. It is really saying our leader is a great leader because he can create amazing relationships with people."
Boston Globe
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
In ‘My Mom Jayne,' Mariska Hargitay makes peace with the mother she never knew
Hargitay admits to having problems with her mother's public image. Mansfield was primarily known as a blonde bombshell, a more buxom answer to Marilyn Monroe. She appeared in films like the massively entertaining 1956 Frank Tashlin comedy, 'The Girl Can't Help It' and was the first Hollywood studio actor to do a nude scene (in 1963's 'Promises, Promises'). She reprised her role in the Broadway hit 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter' for Tashlin's 1957 big screen adaptation. She also made promotional appearances, dressing in tight outfits and speaking in the squeaky voice she used to highlight her image as 'America's smartest dumb blonde.' Mariska Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield in 'My Mom Jayne.' Allan Grant/WB 'My Mom Jayne' informs the viewer that Mansfield was smarter than her Hollywood persona portrayed — she spoke five languages and was a classically trained violinist who also played piano. Hargitay provides clips of her mother playing the violin on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' where she's treated respectfully, and on 'The Jack Paar Show,' where she is not. Sullivan provides her with a five-piece backup orchestra, while Paar interrupts her violin playing to sexually harass her on camera. Advertisement Mansfield wasn't just a comic actor and singer. In Paul Wendkos' film noir 'The Burglar,' she held her own against Dan Duryea in a rare dramatic role. Though she proved herself a versatile actor on stage, Hollywood's inability to cast her as anything but a stereotype led her into depression and alcoholism. Her numerous relationships also generated ruthless Hollywood gossip. Hargitay chronicles all this information for those unfamiliar with Mansfield's career. But 'My Mom Jayne' is mostly about its director's reckoning with her unresolved maternal issues. She admits that this is the first time she and her siblings sat down to discuss their mother, and they're doing it on camera. Being the oldest, Jayne Marie provides the clearest picture of Mansfield, while the brothers recall what Hargitay was like as a child. From Zoltan, we learn that he inadvertently saved Mariska's life. Both of them were in the car on June 28, 1967, when the accident that claimed Mansfield's life occurred. After being rescued, Zoltan asked 'where's Maria?' (Hargitay was known as Maria at the time), which led to the rescuers discovering her trapped under a seat in the car. Mariska Hargitay in 'My Mom Jayne.' WB Plenty of scandalous books were written about Mansfield after her death, and Mickey Hargitay advised his daughter not to read any of them. Perhaps he had another reason for that warning. Mansfield's press agent, Raymond 'Rusty' Strait, appears in a few scenes to discuss working with his famous client. Strait is 99 years old and the author of a 1992 book that alleged that singer Nelson Sardelli was actually Mariska's father. Advertisement 'My Mom Jayne' confirms this, and also reveals that Hargitay discovered the truth before Strait wrote his book. In the film's angriest moment, she confronts Strait, asking him if he had the right to reveal this information in his book. Though the film gives Jayne Mansfield her much-deserved due, it far too often feels like we're flies on the wall during a slew of therapy sessions. The viewer is kept at a distance, simply because there's no entry point for us in this story. 'My Mom Jayne' is so personal that the only conclusion gleaned is that Hargitay had a more emotionally fulfilling time making this documentary than you will have watching it. MY MOM JAYNE Directed by Mariska Hargitay. On HBO. Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Daily Mirror
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Robbie Williams displays worrying detail nobody's seen in iconic 90s photo
Robbie Williams' departure from Take That shocked his millions of fans, but a photo of the musician at Glastonbury taken just a few weeks earlier might've been the clue everyone missed In the summer of 1990, 16-year-old Robbie Williams was struggling through his GCSEs when his life changed forever. Selected as a recruit in new boyband Take That, he joined Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen, with manager Nigel Martin-Smith believing they could be the British answer to New Kids on the Block. Robbie was the youngest, once calling himself the 'runt of the litter', while Mark had worked in a bank, Howard painted vehicles for a living, Jason was a decorator and Gary had been performing in clubs for years. 'As with many boybands, they all had their individual roles,' says BBC music correspondent Mark Savage. 'Gary was the songwriter, Mark was the heartthrob, Jason and Howard were the dancers and Robbie was the comedian. From the beginning, audiences loved his gregarious quick wit.' Despite a record deal with RCA, hopes of instant success were dashed when debut single Do What U Like limped to No82 in July 1991, and even its raunchy video, featuring the lads wrestling half-naked with jelly, failed to have the desired effect. Follow-ups Promises and Once You've Tasted Love also peaked at a lowly No38 and No47 respectively. 'They didn't really know what they were doing or who they were for,' recalls music writer Michael Cragg. 'It was a bit confused at first and, ultimately, the songs weren't good enough. It took a while for them to find a happy medium between the more upbeat stuff and ballads.' Robbie felt out of his depth from the start, and in last year's BBC documentary Boybands Forever, he admitted, 'I wanted to leave.' However, a breakthrough came in the summer of 1992, when the band's cover of It Only Takes A Minute reached No7. Subsequent singles I Found Heaven, A Million Love Songs and Could It Be Magic were also hits, and their debut album Take That And Party made it to No2 and remained in the charts for 18 months. From then on, there was no stopping the Take That juggernaut, and second album Everything Changes, released in October 1993, sold three million copies globally and spawned six hit singles. Four of them were consecutive UK No1s – Pray, Relight My Fire, Babe and the title track. By now, mass hysteria surrounded their every move and Robbie said at the time, 'It's been brilliant – girls following us everywhere.' But under the surface things were far from rosy, and he was finding the group's high-energy dance routines hard to master. 'I would have trouble picking up the steps which would make me look like I was being lazy,' he said in Boybands Forever. 'It made me feel like my place within the band was never safe.' He also told how he felt like the band's 'whipping boy', and as Michael says, 'It was a world he didn't know. After feeling like a failure at school, he was now being told he was failing in the band and that he could be replaced at any time. In that situation you're eventually going to rebel.' Riddled with insecurities, Robbie turned to drink and drugs as a coping strategy, sparking concerns among his bandmates and their management. 'Alcohol and drugs gave him a confidence he didn't otherwise have,' says the BBC's Mark. 'But being in the spotlight is hard enough to navigate as an adult, never mind as a teenager.' He persevered, and May 1995's album Nobody Else resulted in some of Take That's biggest hits, including Never Forget, which shot to No1 in more than 30 countries. However, Back For Good 's line, 'In the twist of separation, you excelled at being free', proved prophetic, as Robbie announced he was leaving the band that July – just weeks after partying at Glastonbury with Oasis. Calling his time in Take That a 'tremendous gift' that 'turned into a nightmare', he later explained his decision to quit to DJ Scott Mills, saying, 'I was in the middle of a nervous breakdown. My first of many.' Describing the situation as a 'computer overload', he stressed, 'I was new to the phenomenon of extreme fame.' Fans were heartbroken by Robbie's departure, and it threw Take That's future into disarray. Speaking on Nicky Byrne's podcast last October, Gary recalled, 'It left us four with not just a bit of what we had, but nothing… Record label dropped, no publishing, nothing.' With the band at crisis point, Mark Savage tells us, 'There's a magic and a chemistry in bands like Take That, but when you remove one element, it's like a house of cards and it can all fall apart. After Robbie left, something was missing. The band knew it, and fans did too.' Yet shockwaves still erupted when they confirmed in a press conference a few months later that they were splitting. 'Unfortunately the rumours are true,' said Gary in February 1996. 'From today Take That is no more.' The news caused such distress that the Samaritans set up a helpline, and some fans even went on hunger strike. The four spent the next few years pursuing solo ventures, but in 2005 they announced that they were reuniting. Singles like Patience, Shine and Greatest Day were monster hits, and in 2009 Robbie realised he wanted back in. He recorded the album Progress with them, saying, 'I wanted to vanquish the demons of the past, and I wanted to make it better for them and for me.' Amazingly, it became the second fastest-selling album in British history, with hit singles including The Flood and Kidz, and was accompanied by the sellout Progress Live tour in 2011. 'A lot of people didn't think it could happen, but it was something Robbie clearly wanted to do,' says author Michael. 'It wasn't like he needed the money, but it obviously felt right.' Soon after the tour, Robbie left for a second time – although this time Gary insisted 'it ended perfectly', and that he would be 'welcome back any time'. After Jason quit in 2014, Take That continued as a trio, and Robbie joined them in May 2020 for an online lockdown performance. Today, his relationship with his former bandmates is 'loving and jovial', and the script of his Better Man film was apparently altered after Gary was granted personal approval. The Boybands Forever series also showed that harmony now reigns, with Robbie calling Gary 'an incredibly dependable person' and adding, 'I've just got overwhelming amounts of admiration for the man.' We're so glad the bromance is alive and well.
New York Times
22-04-2025
- Science
- New York Times
A New Hotel Says It's ‘Carbon Positive.' Is That Hype or Reality?
One of the first things to catch your eye on entering the Populus hotel in downtown Denver is what looks like sheets of cowhide hanging above the restaurant's bar. But the art installation material is actually Reishi, a leathery material made from mycelium, a root-like structure found in fungus. It's just one of many elements at the new 265-room hotel (rates from $299) that are meant to evoke nature and underscore a broader mission to offer what the Populus bills as an exceptional level of sustainability. (A second, 120-room Populus with a similar approach will open in Seattle this spring.) In fact, the hotel, designed by the Chicago-based Studio Gang firm, claims it is the United States' first 'carbon-positive' hotel (meaning that it is supposed to sequester more carbon than it emits). It's a bold statement, but just one among a growing list of self-applied superlatives by other properties. Aruba's Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, for example, calls itself 'the Caribbean's first and only certified carbon-neutral resort.' IHG Hotels and Resorts bills its new Voco Zeal Exeter Science Park in Exeter, England — with an exterior clad in electricity-generating vertical photovoltaic panels — as the brand's first net zero-carbon hotel. The Alohilani Resort in Honolulu says it is the 'first hotel in Hawaii to announce carbon neutral certification commitment.' The Populus's claims go a step further, said Joseph Romm, a senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, and author of 'The Hype About Hydrogen: False Promises and Real Solutions in the Race to Save the Climate.' The hotel, he said, 'has the chutzpah to claim they are being a net positive for the climate, which is a much stronger claim than neutral.' 'A hotel has a lot of impact on the environment,' said Jon Buerge, the president of Urban Villages, the Denver-based developer behind the Populus. He said his team didn't find many properties that they felt took a holistic approach to reducing environmental impact while also enhancing guests' experience. The hotel's design intends to mimic the experience of being inside a tree, from the 'forest floor' aesthetic of the ground level to the rooftop restaurant and deck with citywide views (the 'canopy'). Of course, the most environmentally conscious approach would have been to not build anything. But the hotel's prime location on an unused downtown lot means the site was unlikely to escape redevelopment. Amid a hospitality landscape in which many hotels have moved far beyond the simple bathroom-counter placard urging you to reuse your towel, how does the Populus measure up? It Begins With the Building The Populus's approach started at construction, with a concrete mix said to emit 30 percent less carbon dioxide than regular concrete. Repurposed elements are heavily relied on, including wood from an already felled cottonwood tree for the reception desk; beetle-kill pine for some walls and bed headboards; and snow fencing from Wyoming as decorative ceiling beams. The 365 glass-fiber-reinforced concrete panels on the hotel's exterior, inspired by the bark of aspen trees, help keep the building cool in summer and warm in winter. The hotel did not build a parking garage — instead it uses existing lots in the area for valet parking, and encourages public transit for guests. Measures like these, said Shivya Nath, who runs the consulting firm Climate Conscious Travel, help reduce a building's embodied carbon, or the carbon emitted by making, using and eventually disposing of materials like concrete, steel and insulation. According to the American Institute of Architects, almost 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide result from construction materials, and embodied carbon makes up 11 percent of this total. Other measures used by the Populus include guest rooms that rely on durable textiles; carpeting made from recycled, biodegradable materials; and a biodigester that turns food waste from the hotel's Pasque and Stellar Jay restaurants into a nutrient-dense liquid, which is then mixed with compost to fertilize local fields. An online carbon dashboard tracks the hotel's emissions and offsets for curious guests. 'They have a lot of things in the right place,' said Ms. Nath. Carbon Offsets: How Effective Are They? The Populus also relies on carbon offsets, as do many other sustainability-focused hotels that compensate for at least part of their emissions by tree planting, for example, or purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs). (A REC equates to one megawatt-hour of renewable power in environmental value.) With 20 properties worldwide, Florida-based 1 Hotels, for instance, contributes to reforestation projects through the Arbor Day Foundation and 'has also offset more than 46,000 metric tons of CO2 to date through independently verified carbon credits,' according to Elizabeth Traub, a hotel spokesperson. Room2's residence-style Chiswick in London works with a reforestation partner in Nicaragua. And the Alohilani Resort plants trees in Hawaii and buys additional offsets. Climate change experts have debunked the efficacy of most such measures. 'I don't know any company right now that is serious about climate change that still thinks tree planting is a legit offset,' said Mr. Romm. That's because the seedlings take time to grow into trees, which can then take years to fully absorb — and truly offset — carbon. Additionally, those trees are at risk of infestation and vulnerable to weather and wildfire. The Populus's own tree-planting efforts faced that kind of vulnerability. In 2022, when the hotel was being constructed, it paid for the planting of some 77,000 Engelmann spruce in Colorado in a partnership with the National Forest Foundation to replace trees wiped out by mountain pine beetles. Extreme weather killed 80 percent of the saplings. Mr. Buerge said the higher-than-expected death rate hasn't dissuaded his team from its belief in the program's ultimate efficacy in tipping the hotel's scale to carbon positive. The Populus aims to plant another 50,000 to 70,000 trees this year. The Need for Legislation Class action suits against companies making misleading environmental claims are increasing in the United States. California adopted a bill in 2023 that requires companies to disclose evidence for carbon neutrality and similar statements. In Europe, the legal system is paying close attention to the sustainability claims of businesses. 'Major companies have lost court cases in Europe in recent years for merely saying they are carbon neutral based on dubious offsets,' said Mr. Romm. Indeed, in Germany, hotels can no longer advertise that they are climate neutral without proof. And hotels throughout the European Union must comply with a new directive against greenwashing — overstating environmental claims — that will take effect next year. Perhaps a more accurate claim than carbon neutral is the one made by the Hotel Marcel in New Haven, Conn., which opened in 2022 in a retrofitted, 1960s, Marcel Breuer-designed building. The property calls itself America's first fossil-fuel-free hotel, thanks to more than 1,000 solar panels that help power the hotel's electric infrastructure. But some question environmental mitigation itself. Such steps are well-meaning but ultimately ineffective, according to Auden Schendler, the author of 'Terrible Beauty: Reckoning With Climate Change and Rediscovering Our Soul,' and the former senior vice president of sustainability for Aspen One, which oversees the Aspen Skiing Company. He argues that real sustainability comes with changes in governmental policy, not via the free market. 'These actions are voluntary and taken by sub 1 percent of the hotel industry,' Mr. Schendler said. 'They're inadequate.' To really address food waste, for instance, Mr. Schendler suggested that the Populus's operators argue for better waste legislation. 'People listen to businesses,' he said. In fact, Mr. Buerge said that he was a voting member of Denver's climate change task force, which put in place regulations that aim to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in large buildings by 2040, and that he's currently on the city's sustainability council, working to improve electricity distribution, which would allow the Populus to go all electric. Others within the hospitality industry see value in individual mitigation. Amanda Ho, a co-founder of Regenerative Travel, a collection of independently owned, sustainably minded hotels, said, 'The private sector has more power in making change happen quickly. We'd be moving very slowly if we waited for government.' And what role does the traveler play? The best approach may be to appreciate the real sustainability measures hotels undertake, which can range from renewable energy and eliminating single-use items to local sourcing, without attributing as much to hyped-up marketing messages. At their best, hotels that emphasize sustainability may increase environmental awareness among guests. 'It's not just about building more efficiently and reducing our carbon footprint,' said Mr. Buerge of his hotel's mission. 'My hope is that someone leaves the Populus and says the natural world is pretty amazing and we need to protect it.' Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2025.
