Mondial Know Where Picknick

The Austrian Ecolabel for Green Meetings and Green Events

The Austrian Ecolabel for "Green Meetings and Green Events" is the first national environmental label which allows the certification of a whole event. Organizers as well as participants and locations are involved and committed in the greening process to create a really sustainable event.

The quality label has been created in 2010. It demonstrates environmentally conscious as well as socially responsible management of a meeting and is committed to the preservation of the bases of life and pays attention to the well-being of participants as well as of staff members.

Which events can receive the Austrian Ecolabel?

  • Congresses, Symposia
  • Scientific or national conferences
  • Conferences, fora, colloquia
  • Company meetings, business meetings
  • General assemblies, board meetings
  • Closed meetings, seminars, further training courses, workshops
  • Business events, public events, galas and the like

Who can become a licensee?

  • PCOs (Professional Congress Organizers)
  • Congress and exhibition centres
  • Convention Bureaus
  • Congress and seminar hotels
  • Event planning and event management companies, public relations agencies, city marketing offices
  • Extracurricular institutions of further education and training

Criteria

On the basis of a comprehensive criteria catalogue a meeting must comply with requirements in the following fields: Offers of an environmentally-friendly mobility to the Conference venue, mobility on the spot and CO2 reduction, environmentally-friendly accommodations, requirements for the conference venue, catering and exhibition stand builders, environmentally-friendly procurement, material and waste management, social aspects and communication.

In addition to that the specific situation such as size, offer, equipment or location is addressed through the use of specialized criteria. Moreover, particularities are rewarded, such as the exclusive use of organic food in catering or special offers for persons with handicaps and their families. The event organizer has to show his sustainable mangement principles and sustainable office management.

Organisation

If an organiser carries out or wants to carry out environmentally friendly meetings or is interested in a licence the first contact would be with the "Verein für Konsumenteninformation" (Austrian Consumers Association). The second contact would be to a consultant who accompanies the entrepreneurs in the process of the implementation of the first meeting and supports them on their way to licensing. Corporate internal environmental requirements have to be complied with, a Green Meeting agent is to be appointed and the staff members are to be informed and partly to be trained. The organisation of a Green Meeting and the compliance with the respective requirements are to be laid down with the customer in a contract.

The use of the Ecolabel is granted for a period of four years, for events in which all mandatory criteria are complied with and a certain number of scores is reached from the directory proposals.

Every event within the utilisation period must be entered into a special "Green Meetings" online software and must be licensed by this software. The events are subjected to random-sample check-ups. After the expiry of the four years period an extension of the period of utilisation of the Ecolabel by means of a follow-up audit is possible.The website

The page meetings.umweltzeichen.at (German only) provides for the organisers a platform, where he/she can certify his/her events and present them publicly.

Links

Kulturwandertag Styrian Summer Art

View of Alpbach village. Copyright by Umweltzeichen.

Back to the future - the motto of the Austrian conference professionals

"Back to the Future" was the motto of this year's Convention 4 U, the meeting industry's conference that can be interpreted in many ways - and where better to do that than at the Congress Centrum Alpbach in the Village of Thinkers? The Austrian Ecolabel was there too!

Hypo Meeting Götzis Sprint Damen

Hypomeeting Götzis goes Green

Sporting events can move a lot towards sustainability. The 48th edition of the Hypomeeting Götzis/Vorarlberg shows that this can also work for major events. It was the first major sporting event to achieve the Ecolabel for Green Events and was produced and broadcast according to the Ecolabel "Green Producing" standard.

Willkommensbanner c4u

Laptop mit gestreamtem Vortrag

Green Event Mondial Knowhere picknick

Environment friendly encounters: Green Meetings & Events

Green meetings and events are a trend nowadays. Luckily, because it is not obvious that at every large event will be remembered the dirt they leave behind.

CCA_Hybrid Events_Studio_Hannes Senfter

Hybrid meetings as a chance for organisers and the environment?

Events like the European Forum Alpbach show that hybrid meetings - i.e. partly with online guests, partly with real guests on site - can help organisers to run events as Green Meetings despite restrictions and even become more environmentally friendly.

Rathaus Event

Green Events- cool and sustainable!

Not only business meetings and congresses can be organized sustainably- "Green Events" are also present in the leisure sector.

Tagen in Österreeich

Ecolabel conference hotels are once again among the elite of the convention industry

The most popular seminar hotels are awarded the Golden Flipchart by "Tagen in Österreich". Fortunately, there are always numerous Austrian Ecolabel hotels among them!

Nachhaltiger Sport

Sustainable sports

Sport is good for the health and often a great community experience. Sport can connect people across borders. So, how can it be organized even better and more sustainably?

Messe Bauen und Energie

Green Give-aways for congresses

Giveaways and promotional items are important marketing tools - especially if they are ecological and practical.

Tafelbox 1

Buffet leftovers to take away

About one million people in Austria live in poverty or are at risk of poverty. Many even lack the essentials such as a meal a day. On the other hand, even freshly baked bread often lands directly in the garbage in Austria. The remains of festive buffets must be disposed of. The purpose of the “TafelBox” is to try to remedy this situation.

Alpbach Dorfansicht

Green Meetings: Guests value ecological commitment

The number of organizers who organize their conferences and congresses according to ecological criteria is growing. But how is this offer accepted by the participants? According to the Congress Centrum Alpbach (CCA) after several years of experience it is, "consistently positive".

nachhaltige Veranstaltungen

Why a sustainable event? What is different?

A Green Meeting attaches importance at:

  • Venues and accommodations with environmental awareness
  • Resource conservation in planning and process
  • Waste prevention and separation instead of waste mountains
  • Local foods and drinks of high quality or organic quality
  • Reduction of CO2 emissions
  • Social responsibility for employees and participants
  • Strengthening the regional economy and culture

Buffet Mensen

Less is more – 45.000 tons of food ends up in the garbage!

At events, the participants enjoy a rich buffet. So that nothing edible goes into the garbage afterwards, good planning is essential.

Green Meeting Kärnten

Women celebrate greener! Green Meetings from women for women in Carinthia

The first Green Meeting in Carinthia is an initiative of the Business Women Center, which intends to use it consciously for a sustainable development of economy and society.

Festspielhaus Bregenz

Green Meetings in Bregenz

The managing director of the Festspielhaus Bregenz, a pioneer in the field of sustainable events, explains in an interview with Theresia Dirtl his reasons for obtaining an eco-label certification for Green Meetings.