Sustainable Event Management during the 40th Triennial Assembly

In 2007 the United Nations System Chief Executives Board (CEB) endorsed the UN climate -neutral strategy asking UN organizations to measure reduce and ultimately offset UN GHG emission from facilities and operations. At the Climate Summit in September 2014, the UN Secretary-General called on leaders of UN organizations to guide their respective entities to become climate-neutral by 2020. Within this context, The Venue and Event Management (VEM) unit of ICAO has taken the steps necessary to implement standards of sustainability throughout the preparation and hosting of the 40th Triennial Assembly.

The VEM unit of ICAO is proud to announce that the 40th session of the ICAO Assembly was compliant to the BNQ 9700-253 norm and has been awarded the Level 3 Sustainable Development - Responsible Event Management classification. This nationally and internationally recognized benchmark defines responsible event management and establishes technical rules based on the 16 principles of the Sustainable Development Act of Quebec.

These include: transportation within Montréal, accommodation type, the carbon-footprint of the conference venue, food and food-waste, paper and plastic consumption, and waste-related emissions. For the 40th Triennial Assembly the VEM unit reduced as much waste per participant over the ten-day conference as possible!

“A green meeting is one designed, organized and implemented in a way that minimizes negative environmental impacts and leaves a positive legacy for the host community.” (United Nations Environment Programme, 2009 (p. 9). Green Meeting Guide)