“Best actions to engage participants on sustainability” was the theme of the 2016 UFI Sustainable Development Award. UFI’s objective, when setting this theme, was to recognise initiatives that spread knowledge, enhance attendee experience, and educate and inspire participants on sustainability, both at and beyond the event.
The jury selected two winners: the American Chemical Society (ACS) for its National Meetings & Expositions and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) for MEET TAIWAN’s “Green MICE Project”. Their entry is available by clicking on their names:
- The American Chemical Society organised two events in 2015 that attracted nearly 27,000 professionals. In addition to their “Greener Meetings Program”, which focuses on three key initiatives (calculating and offsetting their carbon footprint, increasing attendee engagement, and collaborating with event partners to improve performance), ACS developed five specific solutions to engage participants around sustainability. These are: the use of social media, tree planting offsets, mobile applications, the Greener Meetings Pledge, and Sci-Mix events.
- The Taiwan External Trade Development Council has been developing its Green MICE project of MEET TAIWAN to inspire every segment of the Taiwan MICE value chain. Their project involves three steps: build awareness on the importance of green and sustainable principles, inspire the stakeholders to take real action for sustainability, and encourage the industry to meet global standards. Each of these steps is proving to be very successful.
The jury also recognised three other finalists:
- Informa (UK) for the variety of actions conducted at the Greenbuild show,
- RAI Amsterdam for their “Heart-warming Amsterdam” catering concept,
- UBM EMEA for their Sustainable Stand Awards and Charity Partnerships initiatives.”
And six additional entries were selected as examples for best practices in the field of sustainability:
- CTICC (South Africa),
- Marina Bay Sands (Singapore),
- NEC / The Skills Show (UK),
- Synergy Business Events / Meetings Africa 2015 (South Africa),
- The International Centre / Climate Reality Project (Canada)
- UBM Asia / CBME China (China)
For more information, please contact Christian Druart at chris@ufi.org.
