Organising Conferences Sustainably

Recommendations for organising a conference sustainably

Recommendations for your conference or event:

Travel
Hotels
Catering
Printing and conference materials
Planning timetable

Recommendations for a sustainable conference organisation at the ETH here>>

AGS Report "Implementing Sustainability in Conferences" here>>

These recommendations were developed by two students in an ecoworks project. The Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) applied them at the AGS Annual Meeting 2009.

Travel

The CO2 emissions from the international travel make up over 90% of the conference emissions. How can they be minimised? Recommend online tools for journey planning within Europe to demonstrate emission savings of alternative options e.g. train. The websites compare journey times and CO2 emissions of different travel options and enable bookings (routeRank, Ecopassenger).
Air travel emissions should be offset. Recommend respected carbon offset providers, and explain their quality standards (myclimate, Sustainable Travel International). Make it as easy as possible for participants to pay.
Have you thought of organising a video conference? They are particularly effective for regular meetings whose participants already know each other.
Video streaming and/or webcasts give some participants an alternative to traveling. You also reach those who did not intend to participate in person anyway. The ETH Zurich VC-Service offers all these services and is happy to advise you.

Hotels

Accomodation should be close to the conference centre and with good public transport connections. Hotels near ETH Zentrum (ETH internal access only)
Consider sustainability criteria when searching for hotels near the ETH Zentrum (e.g. sustainable tourism label "Steinbock"). Information sheet «Be a sustainable hotel guest» here>>

Catering

Choose a catering company that is actively committed to sustainability (incl. ISO 14001 certification).
Select regional and seasonal products wherever possible, and consider offering vegetarian catering. Offer fish, seafood and meat only sparingly or not at all.
Request food products from organic production («Bio»), fair trade («Gebana», «Max Havelaar»), and certified fisheries («MSC»). WWF Sustainable Seafood Guide. ETH thesis "Umweltfolgen des Nahrungsmittelkonsums".
Agree with the caterer on a concept to reduce waste. Use washable plates, or if this is not possible use plates made out of renewable and biodegradable materials e.g. bamboo. Provide recycling bins.

Printing

Most of the energy used in printed materials is used to make the paper, therefore print only the minimum of needed materials. Which materials do the participants need in printed form and which can be sent to them as a PDF? How can you advertise the conference without printing large quantities of flyers and posters?
Documents should be printed double sided on 100% recycled paper. Good quality white recycling papers are available (e.g. «Refutura»). Avoid coated paper and gloss.
When you decide to print a large document (e.g. an abstracts book), you can draw attention to the environmental impacts by offering participants compensatory actions equivalent to the paper, energy, water and other environmental services used. Calculate and recommend compensatory actions for printed products here>>
Choose printing companies who show what they do for sustainability. Printers in Zurich with good environmental record include Ropress, Feldegg. For photocopies use the ETH Copyshop.

Timetable for decision making

Conference planning starts

Decide which measures to increase sustainability are important for your conference.
Consider if your event can be held entirely or partly as a video conference.
Find a suitable conference venue (e.g. with short travel distances).
Find appropriate hotels using sustainability guidelines (e.g. Steinbock label). Ask the local tourist office or make own investigations.
Work out a travel strategy: Who should take the train instead of flying? Do participants or the conference organisers pay carbon offsets? How can this be communicated to participants?
Work out a printing strategy: What must be printed? Will participants be asked to order particular documents e.g. abstracts book?
Decide if webcasts and/or videostreaming will be made available and advertise this.
Clearly communicate the sustainability measures and important information to participants - for example on the registration website. (e.g. Sustainability Pledge of the AGS Annual Meeting 2009).

Registration opens

Find a suitable caterer and clearly state your sustainability criteria for food and drink and agree on a waste concept. Put down your agreements in writing.
Find a printing company that follows sustainability guidelines or environmental standards.
Plan how to communicate your sustainability measures to participants during the conference.

During the conference

Communicate sustainability measures to participants.
Check if all measures are being implemented as planned and take immediate action if problems come up.
Evaluate the impact of your sustainability measures and of your communications by asking participants for feedback e.g. questionnaire.

Corrections to the AGS Report "Implementing Sustainability in Conferences"

page 15 table 2.1. Comparison of three eco labels for hotels. Areas of sustainability covered for the Steinbock label should read: Ecology, Economics, Social aspects
back cover: Producing this paper used 60.23 g paper collected for recycling