Brand standards are only part of the picture.  Hotels participating in the Star ratings system risk compromising that 4th star should they make a switch to bulk shampoo.  That’s a tough sell for many general managers…  and a tough pill to swallow for committed green meeting planners.

Among the goals of the emerging sustainability standards for meetings and events is  to inspire resource efficiency for a traditionally wasteful industry.  Many who are involved in this movement are progressive thinkers who the adoption of better practices as being a simple matter of common sense.   The issue, perhaps, is the ossified system of hotel industry quality assurance standards do not yet consider sustainable practices in their criteria for compliance.

Can the corporate offices of the most successful hotel brands respond to the sustainability movement (efficiency criteria outlined by sustainability standards and the standards required by Green Seal, Swan and other respected Type 1 eco label certifications)?  Do they risk a loss of business if they do?  Will the installation of water smart shower heads, efficient guest room lighting or reduced amenity packages compromise the quality of their brand?  There’s a disconnect between what the brands hold as quality and what sustainability seeks as practice.

At what point in the ‘sustainability revolution’ can we agree that sustainability and quality are inextricably linked?

The meetings industry, some feel, is not yet ready to address social responsibility. We’re asking too much for businesses, many of whom are only now beginning to integrate ‘green’ practices, to try to tackle issues of social responsibility. Really? Certainly we can ask for fair wages, equality and diversity as we ask for recycling, carbon measurement and the elimination of bottled water? 600,000 people die in China each year as a result of overwork. Child slavery flourishes and women continue to be paid less than men for the same position. Green is good, but the real rewards will come for the meetings industry and for local communities when we find a way to better integrate social responsibility into the organization of meetings and events—but soon and on a global scale.

Recently, Shawna McKinley posed an important question to members of The Green Meetings Industry Council asking, in essence, “ What does Social Responsibility mean for the meetings industry and how will we measure it?”.  What follows is a re-working of my responses to that lively conversation.

What does social responsibility mean for the meetings industry? With such great complexity, and the variance in regional norms, finding a single checklist of recommended steps may result in something too generic to be meaningful.

An important step is for businesses to define ‘social responsibility’ for their organization, perhaps using the new ISO 26000 as a guide.  Note that socially responsible initiatives should focus on long term benefits, rather than feel good one-time events. In addition, organizations should seek to support those projects or NGOs which align with the core values of the event or company.

But how to find suitable projects and organizations with which to align?

Some solutions might be found on the new and exciting trend in the creation of online sites which match charities with businesses or individuals  An example is LeapAnywhere Act Bolder provides opportunities for organizations to define causes and invite others around the world to join them (Note that the ‘challenges’ can be pretty basic).  Yet another is Social Vibe.  For talented individuals, Catchafire.  See these suggestions for good charities to support.  Lastly, Good Intentions are not Enough is a great site and can help organizations avoid common pitfalls of social responsibility initiatives.

Social media can facilitate some of the needed solutions but there’s no replacement for business leaders seeing the gaps in their sustainability plans and innovating solutions to provide a response. What actions are being taken in your company?

In addition to your thoughts and feedback, please share sites and solutions and ideas which can be helpful to accelerate action in support of socially responsible initiatives. Check out the responses to Shawna’s initial question by joining the Green Meetings Industry Council group on the Linkedin site. Lots more good topics there, too.

Reducing food waste is by no means a new concept. Yet, many industry professionals who have interest in saving money while reducing the environmental impact of their events employ only a minimum of tactics to reduce food waste.

Every event is different and it’s difficult to identify a single list which applies to all. Still, we try. Here’s a hardly-exhaustive list of tactics planners might consider when creating an event which offers food and beverage:

The supplier: Caterer success has much to do with how effectively they eliminate waste. Established processes and team trainings can help. Effective purchasing and storage and rotation can all reduce food spoilage or breakage. Menu design, as well, can influence rates of waste. There are some software solutions that have proven helpful in some cases, such as LeanPath. Planners should ask prospective suppliers about their practices and how their practices can support the no waste agenda.

The venue: The type of venue selected may influence how effective is the support for food waste reduction. Hotels, because they serve many meals in many different outlets, can often re-allocate safe, un-served food completely. Ask. If the supplier advises that no waste is experienced, then this should inform the negotiation for how they’ll charge if the planner doesn’t meet the guaranteed number (savings opportunity). Exhibition halls often have no food and beverage service of their own and contract with local providers. They may have suggestions for who can perform best to help reduce food waste, so planners should ask.

The counts: Old news, perhaps but still a challenge. Many hotel venues require planners to commit to a number 72 hours in advance and then charge the planner that minimum, even if fewer people attend (see ‘venue’ above for the disconnect) Large events have benefitted from requiring delegates to indicate meals they’ll attend during the online registration process.

Donations: For the recent EWEC 2010 conference in Warsaw, planners worked hard to successfully overcome the barriers to donate food to the regional Food Bank. Concerns about food safety were mitigated with written agreements between parties and participation from Food Bank representatives whose equipment and on-site presence allowed them to immediately collect safe food product for same day distribution. Their efforts resulted in 2,900 meals being donated to a ready infrastructure in need, rather than discarding them as waste. Note: the Iceland volcano eruption caused attendance reductions and food count challenges the first few days of the conference, making the Food Bank initiative especially important in this case

Type of service: plated meals are more labor intensive and more costly but can mean less waste under most circumstances. Effectively monitored buffets can control waste but, in most cases, everything left on the table gets discarded. Bold suggestion: invite staff, volunteers and even visitors to grab a plate before the catering team clears the room. Box lunches are normally a big waste but sealed beverages, whole fruit and packaged snacks can all be re-used if not consumed, but only if they’re not left in a heap on top of the tables. Consider placing a separate receptacle for such re-usable items at the service location.

For planners that are looking for specific actions and practical steps to improve sustainable event performance, can the above actions be a place to start? Who knows? You might just help cool the planet.

What examples have you seen be effective? What are some solutions for different kinds of events?

Never heard of APEX/ASTM? You will.  By some accounts, the APEX standards are the answer meeting planners wanted before wandering down the path of BS8901. With its prescriptive, ‘checklist’ approach to defining what makes a green meeting, it aligns nicely with how many industry professionals work and measure performance.  Recently, Marlene Goldman of Meetings Media, posed a few questions for

a just released article The Green Standard? In the responses below, I provide some perspective on what APEX is all about.

The debut of the APEX standards is the highlight of the season!  Please attend the event in Vancouver, and make a point to participate in the APEX session.  Then come back and share some feedback regarding the experience.

As promised, the question and answer section of the program:

At what stage is the rollout of the APEX Standards for green/sustainable meetings?

After 2 years of planning, discussions, workgroup, region meetings and review by more than 200 industry volunteers and professional standards writers, the APEX standard is scheduled for release in the summer of 2010.

APEX standards for green/sustainable meetings, are in effect 9 standards covering 9 areas unique to the meetings industry

• Accommodations
• Audio/Visual and Production
• Communications & Marketing
• Destinations
• Exhibits
• Food & Beverage
• Meeting Venue
• On-Site Offices
• Transportation

Because each of the 9 areas have been subject to a separate committee of professionals and have different degrees of complexity, each section has taken a different amount of time to complete.  This highly complex process produced different formats which had to be unified and reviewed by technical writers for consistency before review by ASTM, the American Standards body.

How will the standards change and shape the green meetings industry?

Because the standards were written by a cross-disciplinary group of buyers and suppliers, and because they spell out specific actions/specific steps (as opposed to strategic philosophy), environmentally responsible actions become accessible.  APEX has the potential to activate players in the market who are not yet engaged.  Among the sparks which have led to the inception of the standards was a stated need by the EPA for a way to determine what travel-and-event-related products were environmentally responsible.  If there becomes a requirement for hotels, venues, caterers, etc to meet a minimum standard for green practices to win government contracts, it could have profound influence on the market.

How are they different/similar to the British standards and other green standards from other countries?

There are similarities amongst all the standards but APEX and BS8901 are markedly different in how they are formatted and what they require for compliance.  In simple terms, BS8901 is a way of working or a defined ‘process’. APEX is a specific checklist of tactics and expectations which define ‘what to do’.  In addition to the CSMP, the BS8901 presentation at this link explores the way the two standards are similar and different: http://www.slideshare.net/michaelluehrs

Are planners still eager for the standards? How about suppliers?

A select group of planners are very eager for the standards and for a clear way to identify suppliers who will support their agenda for creating sustainable events.  A larger, less engaged group of planners are not even aware that the standards are about to be released.  There remains a large gap between the industry players who are working to better integrate sustainability and those that perhaps are not interested in changing the way they currently do business.  Like television, which eventually offered buyers no option but color, APEX may have the effect of encouraging suppliers to adopt sustainable practices to the degree that, eventually, even without asking, planners will be organizing events which are by current thinking, ‘green’.

Will the added work that goes into creating an APEX standard meeting be a deterrent to planners?

For some, without question, yes.  For the resisters mentioned above and perhaps others, the time to get educated about the standards and the time to ensure compliance with the standard will likely be reason to defer their compliance.  The hope is that the market will reward those suppliers and planners who adopt the standard.  In time, the laggards will comply even though a time investment may be necessary.

How will the standards change how MCI produces a sustainable event?

The APEX standards, as well as BS8901/ISO 20121 and the Global Reporting Initiative meetings sector supplement, are all influencing how we evolve as a company on our quest for quality, of which sustainability is a cornerstone.  We currently use the standards to inform the Standard Operating Procedures for our project teams, and for the reports we issue our clients.  With guidance from the standards, and ongoing innovation, we will continue the pursuit of sustainable event management for each MCI project.

The strategy and stakeholder engagement approaches they developed were so successful, they’ve been captured in two very special reports: The COP15 Sustainable Event Report and, it’s corollary document focused on high level strategy, The Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol (CSMP). These reports represent the latest, leading example of just how far the meetings industry has come on the journey to more sustainable events.

Webinar Launch!

In honor of Earth Day, the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Coalition will officially launch the two reports. In addition, a free webinar (register here) administered by the team that organized COP15 and the Copenhagen city preparations, will provide background and greater detail to sustainable event management strategy as outlined in the CSMP.

Download your copy of the reports here:

Truly a group effort from the entire coalition team, Guy and I are both proud to have participated in this project as authors of both reports. Please share with us your thoughts and ideas for getting these strategies into action throughout the industry.

A number of imminent, important happenings may help bring order and support to meetings industry professionals seeking to improve their commitment to the organization of sustainable events. First, the release of a report on the organization of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen (COP15) offers among the most recent examples of a sustainable event report. Exhaustive in detail and revealing of both planner failings and successes, the report will provide concrete examples of specific actions planners (and communities) can, and should, take to improve chances for a more responsible event. COP15, the first United Nations event to successfully seek compliance with the BS8901 sustainable event management standard , becomes the first to submit an event assessment report to feature Global Reporting Initiative compliance.

A corollary document to the COP15 report will also be released next week. Titled the “Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol” (CSMP), the whitepaper seeks to provide a framework for planners to integrate existing local and international certifications and standards for sustainable event management. Placing a special focus on BS8901, the APEX green meetings standards and the Global Reporting initiative for events, the CSMP gives clear guidance for developing strategy and for stakeholder engagement, which was a special hallmark of the COP15 event planning process. MCI Sustainability Services is proud to have authored the documents and to have participated in the watershed event and vibrant discussions which informed them. Information about the release of the documents can be found here next week. Here, too. For more sustainable events, stay tuned!

Many communities  incinerate waste in an  effort to reduce costs (financial, aesthetic, perhaps environmental?) associated with landfills. The act of incineration often provides a secondary benefit of generating energy.  In Copenhagen, Denmark, for example, 5% of the energy source mix comes from the incineration of waste.  Landfill space saved, energy produced.. All good, right?

Maybe not.  Concerned about the incineration of trash, and the potential effect this practice may have on discouraging recycling rates,  I tracked down this article. and this article. I included in as a Twitter post (here) where the link got a lot of traffic, indicating larger interest.  While there are studies offering support for incineration (normally underscoring the benefits outlined above)  it’s difficult to justify  the wasted resources represented in the incinerated ‘waste’ stream (including PET plastic, cardboard, office paper, glass and aluminum), as well as the mountains of toxic slag which must be landfilled or shipped to nations too poor to refuse them.

In her keynote address to the Green Meeting Industry Council, Annie Leonard of ‘The Story of Stuff’ fame shared her own up-close and personal observations of these piles, recounting the journey of one such pile which traveled from New York City to Haiti and, once discovered as harmful to the environment, back again to NYC for better handling.

Not so fun fact: Plastic

It is estimated that 6-8% of total annual oil production goes to the production of plastic.  Of the plastic produced, just 7% is recycled.  The rest? Landfilled or incinerated.

In his book, Sustainability in Business, JP Bergqvist calls waste ‘valuable resources in the wrong place’.  Recyclable materials, like plastic, bound for the municipal incinerator are an especially painful example of this observation.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Incinerate

The reality, at least in the short term, is that incineration probably has a role to play in the ongoing challenge of municipal waste management.  What’s missing, perhaps, is a more aggressive approach to reducing waste in the first place and optimizing recycling.    Destinations, and the businesses who operate in those destinations, must pursue ever-more effective waste management systems which focus on the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle model, complete with published targets and leadership support. Meeting planners, meanwhile, can serve as advocates for such practices and create market demand for recycling by asking better questions and measuring the waste from their events.

Recyclable materials..  they’re too precious to burn.   Looking forward to your thoughts and ideas.

Sustainable Event Planners must initiate processes to factor in the environmental performance of the destination itself.  Armed with reports such as Yale’s Environmental Performance Index and Best Places to Meet Green planners can begin to make informed inquiries and defensible decisions. Not only do top performing destinations offer better potential for sustainable event fundamentals such as comprehensive waste management (minimum 50% of total waste recycled or composted), efficient public transportation and access to sustainable foods, but can deliver capacity to reduce the event related greenhouse gas emissions.  Hotel rooms in Sweden, (and other nations with more than half of their energy supply from renewable sources) emit half the carbon as hotels whose energy comes from brown coal.

The upcoming APEX green meeting standards, a collaboration between the USEPA and the Convention Industry Council, identifies a comprehensive list of considerations for planners and destinations, themselves.

Are you considering the environmental, or better yet sustainable, performance of your events’ host city?  If not, what resources would you need to start?