Copenhagen to set international green meeting standards

A new consortium made up of the Danish Foreign Ministry, Novo Nordisk, VisitDenmark, Copenhagen Council, MCI Copenhagen and Wonderful Copenhagen will document that COP15 was held responsibly and sustainably and thereby pave the way for more green summits.

Everything is being done to ensure that the Danish hosting of COP15 is as climate-, energy- and environmentally friendly as possible, and all of this work will be documented. With COP15 as its case study, the consortium will document how sustainable meetings and conferences can be organised.

A white book is being prepared which will both cement Copenhagen as a globally leading sustainable meetings destination, and help the UN to hold green and responsible summits in future.

Certification
The partners behind the initiative have entered into a contract with the consultancy firm MCI Sustainability Service, which will produce the white book, The Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol, detailing how the climate conference was held. After that, an impartial third party will certify that it has been held in accordance with a new international standard for sustainable meetings. The white book is expected to be ready in February.

Unique opportunity
COP15 is a unique opportunity to demonstrate that even the world's largest summits can be held in a green and sustainable manner in Copenhagen. Lars Bernhard Jørgensen, Managing Director of Wonderful Copenhagen, says:

"This is a unique opportunity for us to show what Copenhagen can do in terms of meetings and congresses where green solutions are concerned. We will clearly document that Copenhagen has set a new, international yardstick for sustainable meetings and conferences. We hope to pave the way for more sustainable international congresses - in the UN and in Copenhagen."

The Foreign Ministry will pass on the documentation to the UN and urge that coming climate conferences and other international meetings are carried out according to the direction set out in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Council sees the project as an important step towards the goal of making Copenhagen an environmental metropolis by reducing the city's CO2 emissions by 20% by 2015, among other measures.