Our vision
Step up ocean action
The health of our planet relies on the ocean. Yet, it’s under immense threat—from rising temperatures to plastic pollution. We need radical innovation and collaboration across sectors to tackle these challenges. Our vision is to inspire sustainable business model transitions and evolve the contribution and understanding of the private sector toward sustainable ocean development. This requires fostering not just responsible but truly regenerative models, and creating a facilitating environment for rapid, transversal transitions.
Strategy for a sustainable ocean economy
Wave of Change is the first innovation hub born from the tourism industry that creates transformational strategies for a sustainable ocean economy.
We champion out-of-the-box thinking led by a unique set of experts in partnership with leading stakeholders in the private sector, the public sector and academia.
Our mission involves challenging the status quo of business responsibility and deepening the understanding of why and how businesses should integrate science-based actions for the oceans. In tandem, we catalyze public-private partnerships and enhance bi-directional literacy.
Our history
Over five years leading change
SPEARHEADING A TRANSITION TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND OCEAN ACTION FOR IBEROSTAR HOTELS & RESORTS
01
Circular Economy
We propel business models that evolve operations towards circularity through regenerative and restorative sourcing, use and end use of water, energy and products in the built environment. We also include the concept of regeneration in destinations, and in the value chain.
Over five years we have implemented strategies to remove single-use plastics, send no waste to landfill, and decarbonize operations within accommodation.
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02
Nature-based Solutions
We restore coastal ecosystem services to reduce and mitigate risk in the face of climate change risk, enhance the quality of beach and water in coastal destinations, and enhance green spaces for wellbeing in coastal areas. Spearheaded by our team of in-house scientists, in collaboration with academia and industry practitioners, we provide strategies that integrate the protection of nature in business cases for the private sector.
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03
Blue foods
We define a framework and path towards sustainable seafood in the private sector that strengthens traceability across the supply chain, lifts up local fishing communities and explores alternative blue foods.
Leveraging our experience in creating a holistic and comprehensive approach in the private sector, we aspire to set a model that transitions from traditional seafood sources to responsibly-sourced alternatives.
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04
Climate Action
We create strategies to decarbonize scope 1 and 2 in the built environment and the destination, as well as scope 3 in the value chain. We also focus on climate adaptation in coastal areas and develop blue carbon solutions for mitigation. When developing this work, we leverage our experience creating the most ambitious decarbonization strategy in accommodation, validated by SBTi, to reach carbon neutrality by 2030.
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05
Destination Stewardship
Our destination stewardship area fosters effective communication with key stakeholders in sustainable development within tourism destinations. We engage in ongoing dialogue to ensure that the community's voice is heard and understood by the private sector, while also conveying the private sector’s perspective to the community. A major part of our destination stewardship work also includes developing partnerships and pre-competitive collaboration engaging private and public partners.
Read moreDiscover our resources
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is a fast-spreading disease threatening coral reefs. At Wave of Change, we've developed a successful protocol for treating affected corals and helping reefs thrive.
Discover the remarkable achievements and ongoing sustainability efforts of Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in 2023 by downloading our full 2023 Year in Review report.
This report and roadmap synthesize progress on our strategic objectives and lays out the evolution of embodying a circular economy at Iberostar Hotels & Resorts.
Iberostar Hotels & Resorts has a continued commitment to transparency. Here we present our Wave of Change 2022 Year in Review.
In 2020, Iberostar Hotels & Resorts committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. We now present our roadmap for decarbonization aligned with this objective.
This roadmap establishes clear goals and key progress indicators to track success, and provides guiding actions to enhance the ecological health of coastal ecosystems.
This is our second Responsible Seafood Annual Report and it has been made publicly available to show our ongoing commitment to transparency within our seafood strategy.
Iberostar Hotels & Resorts has a continued commitment to transparency. Here we present our Wave of Change 2021 Year in Review.
As part of our commitment to transparency, we present our Wave of Change 2019 End of Year Assessment by the numbers where we highlight our achievements.
This is our first Responsible Seafood Annual Report and it has been made publicly available to show transparency within our seafood commitment.
As part of our commitment to transparency, we present our Wave of Change 2020 Year in Review. This document outlines how we performed in 2020.
What should resilient reef restoration look like for tourism? For Wave of Change, it should protect our coastlines, enhance fish biomass and maintain high levels of biodiversity.
Alliances and partnerships
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