Airbnb

You’d think a $72 billion San Francisco-based company that encourages “the efficient use of existing resources” would be further along in its sustainability efforts, but you’d be wrong. 

Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky has rolled out some PR-friendly environmental programs over the years and recently, the other Airbnb co-founder, Joe Gebbia (an Airbnb board member), donated some personal wealth to the cause of ocean cleanup. As a company, however, Airbnb's approach to sustainability has only just begun to transcend an ad hoc approach. It only recently started bothering to respond to the CDP's (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) requests for information and so far it has only filed a short term commitment with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). 

Airbnb’s sustainability reports are like a midweek night out: short and underwhelming. The version published in 2021 has an environment section that’s a single page long (slow clap) and appears to lightly use just one major reporting framework (three is average for companies of Airbnb’s size). In 2022, the company did release a slightly fuller report about its emission reduction goals, but compared to many of its peers in the business world, Airbnb’s reporting leaves a lot to be desired. The company scored an unimpressive 34 out of 100 on CSR Hub, a site that rates companies’ environmental and corporate social responsibility reporting. 

Chesky has said he wants Airbnb to be a net zero company by 2030, but without more big-boy corporate governance in place to ensure the company’s walk matches its talk, we think there’s little chance of making that happen. Finally, Airbnb appears to have a relationship with the Chamber of Commerce, an industry group that has a long history of lobbying against good climate policies. In short, Airbnb’s sustainability efforts so far amount to little more than an air biscuit.