As part of its commitment to making Germany one of the world’s greenest places to host U.S. and global business meetings, the German Convention Bureau (GCB) is announcing a new, multi-city Green Meetings Seminar Program that will ultimately train and certify up to 500 green meeting consultants working in the German MICE industry. Participants will come from major hotels, leading venues and key convention centers and bring their learnings back not only to their co-workers and management teams but also to their clients hosting meetings in the country.
The program, which will span over several years, is being funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation, Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU), and is part of an effort by the GCB, the DBU, and the European Association of Event Centers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at events and promote green meetings.
The first GCB green seminar will be May 2 – 3, 2012, at the Maritim Hotel in Frankfurt. Future events are planned in Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich.
Each seminar will feature a 1.5-day course providing participants with education and best practices around the planning and implementation of sustainable meetings, conferences and events. Topics covered will include: understanding sustainability in environmental, economic and social terms; overviews of various certificate programs offered in this area; and detailed discussions around green case studies. Many practical green measures such as transportation management, venue energy and water savings options, material and collateral management and socially responsible human resources will also be covered.
“Green meetings really are the way of the future because they are better for the environment and in Germany more cost-efficient than regular meetings,” said Laura d’Elsa, the GCB’s regional director for the U.S. and Canada. “Now U.S. and global planners have the option to team with green meeting experts to achieve all their business meeting goals in Germany.”
The new GCB green seminars are the latest development in Germany’s long-standing commitment to sustainability. For example, 10 of the 18 European conference destinations with an above-average commitment to sustainability are in Germany, and 25.6 percent of conference hotels, congress centers and event venues in Germany have had sustainability audits conducted by independent third parties such as Green Globe, ECOPROFIT or ISO 14001.
