Germany pursues green agenda

17/05/2011

Looking to organise an event that won’t harm the environment? Germany is the place to go.

One of the world’s leading nations in the field of sustainability, the country has pioneered renewable energy production: it boasts the largest wind energy industry on the planet, and has the largest market in Europe for solar thermal energy by some margin. Furthermore, one of its major cities, Hamburg, was recently named the European Green Capital.

This attitude is mirrored by Germany’s MICE industry, which is just as committed to ensuring that the country’s meetings events are kind to the environment. Long a promoter of sustainability issues, the German Convention Bureau (GCB) joined forces in May 2010 with the European Association of Event Venues (EVVC) to organise concerted action and events that help to bring green meetings to public attention and encourage their adoption.

In March, they organised the two-day greenmeetings and events conference in Mainz, where 400 delegates from all sectors of Germany’s MICE industry discussed the importance of sustainability in the field, and how to achieve it. The GCB also offers practical support for staging green meetings on its website, including an online CO2 calculator for events and an overview of existing environmental certificates, while it is running several free seminars at IMEX that offer further advice on the matter.

It appears that German MICE venues have also recognised the importance of this issue, as 25 partners of the GCB and the EVVC have received Green Globe Certification (GGC), while another 11 have applied.

Speaking with regard to the countries meetings and events industry, Jürgen Trittin, parliamentary group leader of the German Green party and former environment minister, commented, “Sustainable meetings could be our major asset.” Certainly, Germany is currently the leading choice for meeting planners for whom the environment is a priority.

www.germany-meetings.com

www.evvc.org/en/startseite/