After reaching CO2 neutrality and receiving the IMEX Green Exhibitor Award for its Germany booth at IMEX in Frankfurt in 2013, the German Convention Bureau (GCB) and its 96 co-exhibitors upped their game at the 2014 show by reducing their average individual exhibitor footprint by 12.7 percent.
A natural extension of the GCB’s and Germany’s long-standing commitment to sustainability, the booth improvement was created through a couple of key factors:
- Prior to the show, the GCB appealed to exhibitors in the Germany booth to operate in more sustainable ways, such as by avoiding hardcopy brochures and giveaways and planning show travel by rail or other forms of public transportation.
- Booth catering was also a bright green spot with food-related emissions reduced by 30 percent over last year.
This was achieved by providing meals with more local ingredients, lower meat content and higher ecological focus.
The importance of sustainability for the meetings industry was also confirmed within the newest Meeting & EventBarometer, published by the GCB and its partners. It shows that 80 percent of suppliers and 66 percent of event organizers believe that the inclusion of sustainable components in meetings and events will only become increasingly important in the future.
