Inside Oberoi’s Plan to Make Luxury Hospitality Fully Sustainable by 2030
The luxury hospitality group is putting environmental and social responsibility at the center of its next phase.
Photo: Courtesy of Oberoi
As the New Delhi-based Oberoi Group moves into a new chapter of growth—with recent openings such as The Oberoi Vindhyavilas Wildlife Resort, Bandhavgarh, and an upcoming London property—it has announced that it’s placing sustainability squarely at the center of its strategy. Last week, the Group newly launched Elements by Oberoi framework, which formalizes the brand’s environmental and social responsibility commitments.
While Oberoi’s ethos has been quietly shaped by sustainability for decades—some hotels switched completely to solar power as far back as 2019 and many have on-site sewage treatment plants, among other measures—Elements by Oberoi offers a holistic approach to sustainability. The framework is embedded across the group’s operations and expands on three foundational pillars: Earth, Water, and Air.
In the Earth category, Oberoi hotels are designed to coexist with their surroundings, using organic farming, compost systems, sustainable landscaping, and locally sourced ingredients. The group has eliminated plastic water bottles across all its properties and adopted eco-friendly amenities and material reuse practices to minimize waste.
Water conservation remains a core focus. From advanced rainwater harvesting and zero liquid discharge systems to more efficient laundry operations, the group’s water strategy incorporates circular practices. Beyond hotel walls, the group also supports marine conservation and responsible water use in local communities.
To address the Air component, Oberoi is scaling clean energy usage through solar and wind-powered systems, expanding EV charging infrastructure, and using automated energy management to lower its carbon footprint and improve air quality.
“We have always believed that excellence must be enduring. As we grow and expand our footprint, sustainability is not just a value—it is a way of life that shapes how we build, serve, and lead,” said Arjun Oberoi, the Oberoi Group’s executive chairman.
The framework also speaks to Oberoi’s investment in people and place. “True luxury is defined by the care with which we serve our guest and equally demonstrate through our actions towards people, the community and our planet,” said CEO Vikram Oberoi. “With Elements by Oberoi, sustainability is seamlessly embedded into the guest journey and in how we engage with people, the communities around us and our precious environment.”
By 2030, the group aims to recycle 100 percent of its wastewater, reduce fresh water consumption per occupied room by 20 percent, source half of its electricity from renewables, transition its transport fleet to fully electric vehicles, and eliminate fossil fuel-based thermal systems in all new hotels while retrofitting existing ones.
