Zero-impact business forum? It can be done!

Questo post è disponibile anche in: Italian

Asia’s first completely zero-waste Business Forum just came to an end: the Responsible Business Forum (RBF), organized in Singapore, was the first conference of the United Nations Development Programme focussed on Sustainable Development Goals.

Goodbye visiting cards, goodbye printed programmes, and welcome digital solutions and vegetarian menus. Global Initiatives Responsible Tony Gourlay coordinated a team to organize the event working in a sustainable direction: “We also want to get everyone thinking about how much each single plastic cup, plane ride, conference badge actually impacts the earth” said Gourlay.

Impact-minimizing strategies were used even for the international flights that brought participants to the forum: the organizers compensated 100% of the emissions by supporting the South Pole Group, a programme that allows to exchange carbon credits by investing in sustainable projects. The organization chose to support an initiative for the management and treatment of waste waters in Thailand, which can be processed to extract methane to be used as sustainable energy source.

Over 90% of the event’s carbon footprint was due to plane rides, while the rest derived from the energy consumption required by air conditioning during the event.

This international forum might become the future model for the organization of “zero-emissions, zero-waste” international events.

Italy, too, is progressing in this direction: a collaboration between Zero Waste and the Zero Waste Research Centre (“Centro di Ricerca Rifiuti Zero”) recently launched the “Zero-Waste Event” certification, which mandates the respect of a specific disciplinary protocol. The certification’s logo can be displayed on occasion of parties, indoor events, fairs, concerts, outdoors and indoors film projections, theatre performances, non-professional marches and sports events, exhibits, and markets.