Green Presidency Austrian Council Presidency 2018
During the Austrian Council Presidency a consistently sustainable event management is aimed at.
With the initiative “Green Events Austria” of the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism Austria has been pioneer as far as the topic sustainable event management is concerned for many years. With the Austrian Ecolabel for Green Meetings und Green Events the first European certification system for sustainable events was developed in 2010. The Austrian Ecolabel shall contribute to
- reducing environmental pollution at events.
- taking into consideration the regional economy,
- emphasizing social and cultural aspects, and
- seizing the opportunity of public attention and the interest of the media for awareness-raising.
Since 2010 more than 800 meetings and about 250 events have been held according to the Ecolabel for Green Meetings and Green Events
On the basis of this exemplary Austrian tradition of the past ten years a consistently sustainable event management is aimed at during the Austrian Council Presidency: The Austria Center Vienna (ACV), the main venue of the Austrian EU Council Presidency, offers the best conditions for the organisation of “Green Presidency” events. The location, which is certified according to the Austrian Ecolabel, pursues a holistic management approach, which implements, apart from economic and social affairs, comprehensive measures in the environmental sector. Electricity at 100% from renewable sources of energy, thermal solar plant, LED lighting, avoidance and separation of waste, industrial water systems, and water-saving sanitary facilities, best accessibility by public means of transport, filling stations for electric cars up to the certified catering enterprise with seasonal, regional, and organic products constitute active contributions to environmental protection.
The event management takes into consideration the following fields during the Council Presidency:
- Promotion of environmentally-friendly mobility via central shuttle services and accessibility of the locations of events via public means of transport
- Offer of seasonal, regional catering with organic products
- Procurement according to ecological criteria, among other things stationery, silk ties / scarves and office tools
- Communication of the sustainability efforts to all participants and partners for the purpose of awareness-raising and motivating them to make their own contributions
- Cooperation with certified service partners such as hotels, locations and caterers.
- Further training offers for employees of the Ministry on the topic of sustainable office organisation and
- Certification of events according to the Austrian Ecolabel for Green Meetings.
Participants in the meetings during the Austrian Council Presidency will be encouraged by means of a guideline to support the efforts around sustainable events. It is for example recommended to them to decide to stay in an environmentally certified hotel, to make use of the offer of the separate collection of waste at the conference centre, to use digital media instead of paper print-outs or to use public means of transport for the travel to the conference
The international conference “Events for a Greener Europe“ (5-6 July 2018), which takes place within the framework of the Austrian Council Presidency, takes up this topic of environmentally benign event management, and aims at discussing European policies on the promotion of a sustainable development of the sector.