EIBTM. Three of the world’s most renowned eco-friendly convention centres have joined forces to create a Global Green Alliance, it was revealed at EIBTM in Barcelona. Recognised as the global platform for meetings and events, EIBTM was a fitting environment for the meeting where Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool, Cape Town International Convention Centre and Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre congregated.
The premise of the alliance is to promote three of the world’s most eco-friendly venues to work together in sharing business within the conference and events industry and promoting best practise for hosting sustainable events. The meeting allowed each member of the alliance to reinforce their relationship with one another. The formation of the Global Green Alliance initiative was a direct result of relationships forged at the recent ICCA Congress in Florence.
Kerrin MacPhie, Head of Sales at the BT Convention Centre, part of ACC Liverpool, commented: “Event organisers have been under increasing pressure for some time now to meet CSR and sustainability targets. With this new Global Green Alliance, we can not only offer clients an outstanding, eco-friendly venue here in the UK, but can now extend that offer to include partner convention centres across the world that we know will meet their sustainability targets as well as we do at ACC Liverpool.”
Esmare Van Tonder, International Sales Manager for Cape Town International Convention Centre added: “There is a lot of hype regarding the green agenda, which makes it difficult for organisers to distinguish veneer policies from tangible deliverables that truly have an impact on improving sustainability targets. With this new alliance, we are setting the bar in terms of eco-venue standards and giving organisers a clear choice of partner organisations that can support their CSR needs.”
Anne Jamieson, Director of Sales at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre concluded: “The launch of this new alliance marks an exciting new era for the meetings and events sector, as we collaborate in developing new eco-friendly venue design features and packaged services. We anticipate that event organisers will benefit from a significantly enhanced sustainable offer and the industry as a whole will see best-practice improved across the board.”
The alliance will focus on developing its combined offer and joint international marketing activities.Over the coming months, the alliance will announce a range of service offerings and other initiatives to further develop industry best practice and enable clients to gain maximum value from holding sustainable events.
Green credentials of partner venues:
ACC Liverpool:
Due to ACC Liverpool’s environmental measures it produces half the CO2 emissions it would without any and uses 20% less electricity. The design of the building, along with its insulation and air control system, is inherently efficient and requires significantly less energy than a traditional build would. Lighting is high efficiency and controlled by motion detection (so a room is dark unless someone is in it). Five 20 metre low-noise wind turbines contribute to ACC Liverpool’s power provision. Rainwater is collected on the roof of the building, which is then used to flush toilets. The rainwater accounts for approximately 40% of the water used for flushing toilets within the arena. www.accliverpool.com
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre:
World’s first 6* Star Green Star environmentally rated venue, displacement ventilation provides effective, high indoor quality air flow at low energy consumption, solar hot water systems can offset more than 40 per cent of general hot water requirements and can provide 100 per cent of public amenity hot water requirements, light fittings have been selected and positioned in order to minimise resource and energy consumption, a black water treatment plant collects building wastewater and some stormwater to provide treated water for toilet flushing, irrigation and cooling towers. www.mcec.com.au
Cape Town International Convention Centre:
“My Tree in Africa” initiative to reduce the centre’s carbon footprint by planting trees in disadvantaged communities. Nurture Our World (NOW) campaign which is a call to action and encapsulates the centre’s responsibility to address issues such as climate change and the preservation of the environment for future generations.
Range of green conference packages to encourage event “greening”. Dedicated environmental task team ISO14001 accredited venue Utilisation of biodegradable soaps and detergents Water conservation via dual-flushing toilets and automated drip system irrigation methods. The extensive use of low voltage bulbs, fluorescent fixtures, and dimmer switches. A primary closed circuit air-conditioning system with daily temperature selection adjusted according to the change in ambient external temperatures. Daily adjustment of sun louvers to maximise light and reduce the loss of heat. www.cticc.co.za
