The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has launched an International Certificate on Sustainable Standards for Engineering (ICOSSE) for tradeshow exhibitors. The program was piloted in cooperation with DECHEMA, the German-based Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, at ACHEMA. Based on exhibitor response, it will now be used at other events. ACHEMA, the world’s largest exhibit for the chemical, environmental and biotechnology industries, operated by DECHEMA, ran June 18-22, 2012, at the Messe in Frankfurt am Main.
The new ICOSSE certificate program recognizes the sustainability of a product, process or service. According to Darlene Schuster, executive director of AIChE’s Institute for Sustainability, the criteria for the certificate program, and the questionnaire exhibitors complete with their application, are drawn from AIChE’s Sustainability Index. The AIChE Sustainability Index is a tool that helps companies benchmark their sustainability performance against a group of their peers. It combines technical and engineering components with financial and social metrics traditionally employed in other sustainability measures.
Schuster points out that the questionnaire, currently available only in English, can cover any product, service or process that an exhibitor wishes to have considered for the designation. Applications are reviewed by an advisory board, which determines which applications will receive the recognition. When approved, the exhibitor receives a branded certificate to display, as well as recognition on a dedicated ICOSSSE website that remains available long after participating events.
The factors that the questionnaire covers include environmental performance and improvement, safety performance and improvement, product stewardship, lifecycle considerations, value chain, innovation, and corporate sustainability goals and policies.
