Sustainable Meetings, Copenhagen style

COP15 was a transformative event for those closest to it, the organizers and the host city, Copenhagen.  The largest political event to ever happen in Denmark, COP15 brought unique challenges and opportunities. The story of how they worked together to deliver the first United Nations event to ever achieve BS8901 sustainable event management criteria is [...]

COP15 carbon footprint report

Integrated into the COP15 event sustainability report was an excellent study of local carbon emissions conducted by the Copenhagen office of Deloitte. COP15 Carbon Footprint Deloitte 2010.pdf With lessons learned from the carbon footprint measurement of COP15, Deloitte is providing a list of recommendations for successful carbon footprint measurements for future COP meetings. 1. Establish [...]

Sustainable events: Examples & Strategy

When it comes to sustainable events, most professional meetings planners understand the ’why’ but not the ’how’. An intrepid few invest time and effort to piece together different tactics in support of a more responsible event, but rarely does the approach have any strategic plan. Rarer still are the events which produce a thoughtful report [...]

MCI Inaugural CSR Report 2009

Michael and I have just finished and released the first MCI CSR Report. This is the story of MCIs initial steps on the path to sustainability. It highlights the strategy, actions and results of what has been achieved in the first few years of the MCI sustainability journey. There are 2 parts. MCI Corporate Social [...]

Sustainability trends in the meetings industry

Over the last few weeks quiet a few people have asked me what they think will be the key sustainability trends in 2010. So for a keynote presentation today at MICE Travel Fair in Amsterdam, I made my first attempt at summarising some of the key aspects of change that will progressively transform the meetings [...]

Green Event Standards: weigh in!

The US-based initiative to create new voluntary standards for sustainable events will,  once finalized and accepted, drive real change in markets beyond US borders.  If you have any interest, business or personal with  sustainable practices within the meetings industry (and if you’re reading this, you do!), you have a vested interest in the outcome of [...]

Carbon Counters, Activate!

Posit : It’s important to measure event-related sustainability indicators  to further the cause and argument for sustainable events. The most prominent and controversial star of the indicator lineup? Carbon emissions. Carbon measurement: ‘A profusion of tools, a dearth of quality’ We’ve seen a mad scramble to create tools for tracking carbon emissions. Precious few, however, [...]

Wanted: Waste measurement!

Sustainable events require meeting planners to ascertain the amount of waste produced during the course of the event.  Like the swimmer who has no idea if they are doing well until the clock measures their performance, planners need measurement to gauge the effectiveness of their efforts. Assuming that some degree of waste diversion (product re-use, [...]

Water waste not, water want not

A longtime event organizing collaboration between our company, MCI Group, and Stockholm International Water Institute’s World Water Week brings water issues close to home. Referencing this research, thousands of lives hang in the balance. Sanitation concerns, distribution issues, environmental impacts, and educational issues all combine to make this what may be the biggest sleeping giant [...]

Mandatory Reporting on Sustainability

I am at the World Business Summit on Climate Change, which we are helping to organize in Copenhagen as a feed in event to COP15. The event features over 800 CEOs of industry and major climate change experts. As a recommendation to be submitted to the UN at COP15, industry is asking that Carbon reporting [...]