When you stop to think about it, the meeting and event industry has provided the context for some of the most pivotal environmental achievements in history.
The very foundational processes and documents of the United Nations Global Compact would not be possible without the collaboration, communication and fellowship facilitated by the very essential services event professionals provide.
From Rio, to Kyoto, Bali, Johannesburg, Copenhagen and beyond, professionals from our industry have enabled the sharing of ideas that have affirmed the very principles meeting and event professionals are now embracing in an effort to address our own impact as a capitalist force.
The meetings industry is broad and far-reaching in both its impact and influence. Our actions touch diverse product and service providers. This includes our obvious direct partners: hotels, airlines, conference and event venues, and caterers.
But it also includes many other less-obvious producers that feed our supply chain: farmers, retail, technology, information and communications providers, audio-visual companies, construction and manufacturing, shipping providers and many, many more.
As key decision-makers, meeting planners are able to work across these numerous supply chains to support
actions that are economically viable, as well as environmentally and socially responsible. In this way planners have a critical capacity to impact global cultures and environments in both positive and negative ways.
Consider the following:
- In 2000 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the typical conference attendee produced an estimated 20 lbs of trash per day while at an event. Through aggressive reduction and recycling programs meeting professionals have been able to reduce per-participant trash production to less than 1 lb per day.
- The same study indicates average per participant greenhouse gas emissions are 1,419 lbs over an event. By choosing locations closer to attendees and cities with walkable convention neighborhoods, meeting planners have profound power to reduce the emissions footprint of their activities.
- Eliminating bottled water and providing self-serve water coolers at a 40,000 person event can avoid the use of 500,000 plastic bottles, resulting in savings of 594,000 liters of water, 36,900 kg of carbon dioxide emissions, 6,750 kg of oil and 745,000 mega joules of energy, in addition to reducing gross costs by an estimated $1.5 million USD.
MeetGreen acknowledges the impact of meetings and travel and as a result has sought to show leadership in creating solutions where people can connect in powerful and strategically relevant ways, while ensuring environmental and social responsibility.
Follow the link below to read the full report in PDF format: www.meetgreen.com/files/MeetGreenReport20072009.pdf 
