The International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) recently reported a dramatic increase in members that signed up to support the organization’s rigorous Code of Sustainability, which demonstrates their commitment to sustainable practices in nine areas: Education and Awareness, Waste Management, Recycling, Reuse, Water Conservation, Purchasing, Energy Management, Air Quality, and Food & Beverage.
The IACC monitors and updates the Code of Sustainability in order to ensure that it reflects state-of-the-art best practices.
When IACC members sign the Code of Sustainability, they certify that their organization supports IACC’s Environmental Policy and they join with other members in striving for more sustainable, environmentally responsible industry policies and practices.
IACC currently recognizes three tiers of participation in the Code of Sustainability. Members that achieve 100% of the Code qualify for the Platinum Tier; those that achieve 85% qualify for the Gold Tier; and those that achieve 75% qualify for the Silver Tier. The complete list of members is available from the IACC’s Website.
The Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) has issued an invitation to the North American meetings, incentives, conventions and events industry to track and report how much waste is being reduced and recycled at events.
The purpose of the Trash Challenge is to build momentum and awareness toward the ultimate goal of reducing the environmental footprint of meetings and events, thereby building a more sustainable industry.
Hotels, venues, restaurants, attractions, transportation companies, theatres, and catering companies are all invited to participate. Interested organizations can sign-up at the GMIC Website. The council has also set-up a Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/Eventtrash where it will be posting updates and case studies.
At last, something good to come out of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The city of Copenhagen, in partnership with the Danish Foreign Ministry, Nove Nordisk and VisitDenmark has released a white paper, The Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol (or CSMP), which can be used to organize large, complex meetings in a more sustainable way. The protocol is the outcome of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) that took place in Denmark’s capital in December 2009.
The CSMP is intended to inspire planners to strive for excellence sustainability in the management of their meetings now and in the future.
There are a growing number of organizations eager to help hoteliers with sustainability and green meeting initiatives. Here is a short list of organizations that can help with your green meeting initiatives:
* BlueGreen Meetings — a multi-stakeholder initiative spearheaded by Oceans Blue Foundation; extensive list of links and resources for greening your event.
* Green Hotels Association – brings together environmentally-friendly hotel properties eager to institute programs that save water, save energy and reduce solid waste.
* Green Meeting Industry Council — global community solely dedicated to sustainability in the meetings and events industry; member representation in over 20 countries.
* Green Key Eco-Rating Program — a graduated rating system designed to recognize hotels, motels, and resorts that are committed to improving their fiscal and environmental performance; organization provides a checklist for planners who want to determine a hotel’s level of commitment to environment issues.
* Green Seal — An independent, non-profit organization that strives to achieve a healthier and cleaner environment by identifying and promoting products and services that are safe for the environment; 10+ year partnership with the lodging industry.
* Meeting Professionals International (MPI) — the association has made a commitment to sustainability and to sustainable events; all MPI events consider 8 areas of “green meetings” including: destination selection, transportation, venues, accommodation, food and beverage, communications, on-site operations and expositions.
* The Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) — Ceres’ Green Hotel Initiative (GHI) is designed to increase and demonstrate market demand for environmentally responsible hotel services.
Last week, Michelle Bokone of Details Special Event Production Company, a Denver-based event company that specializes in green meetings and events answered our questions about the costs and benefits of going green.
Here Michelle tells us how to plan a ‘green’ site inspection:
The first step to conducting a “green” site inspection is to ask questions of the venue representatives.
Include suppliers in developing the overall “green” vision and plan for the event, and ask your suppliers what actions they take to be more sustainable. Ask if they have a written plan/audit, and ask them to share it with you.
Next, go into the site inspection with checklists that help you to identify/rate/measure the green initiatives of the facility.
To get started, some helpful minimum guidelines and beginning checklists can be found in the book Simple Steps to Green Meetings and Events by Amy Spatrisano, CMP and Nancy J. Wilson, CMP.
Global guidelines for sustainability are still in development, and for more information readers will want to look into the APEX Green Meetings & Events Voluntary Standard and the International Standard (ISO) 20121 Sustainability in Event Management. The ISO 20121 has been developed from the British Standard (BS) 8901 and now has 20 countries actively involved in the development.
