Do you want to roll out the green carpet for your participants?

Some ideas from UNEP on how to green your meetings. It's actually written for UN meetings, but I think the manual can be applied across the board.

The Guide consists of five different elements:

Section 1: “Green meetings: what to know”

Part A: Introduction - an introduction to the concept of greening meetings, and the benefits this can bring to the organisers, especially UN organisations.
Part B: Management and Communication – guidance on management and communication aspects of greening meetings.
Part C: Greening your meeting – an overview of the key environmental impacts of a meeting, and how these may be minimised - especially venue selection, accommodation, catering, local transportation, logistics.
Part D: Climate neutrality – proposals for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions generated by a meeting, especially through the impacts of long-distance travel in order to leave a positive “Climate Legacy”.

Section 2: “Green meetings: what to do”

Part E: The Greening Meetings Checklist - detailed greening recommendations for the day to day preparation of a meeting.


I cringed a little when it came to the section on choosing the location of the meeting. As you know, the Climate Change meeting will be in Copanhagen . .... well, everyone is flying there. The report recommends that participants offset carbon emissions. Then there's the issue about staying in 4 or 5 star hotels. It says "The more luxurious a hotel is, the higher the consumption of water. On average, hotel consumption of water per guest is 220 litres; this goes up to 520 litres in 4 and 5 stars hotels - the main consumption of water is due to wellness centres, swimming pools and laundry services."