Every second Copenhagen hotel room is green

A record number of Copenhagen hotels went green last year. End 2009, 53 per cent of all hotel rooms were officially environmentally friendly. That's up from just 12 per cent in 2008.

Copenhagen is a world leader when it comes to environmentally friendly initiatives and solutions. And the city's pioneering status is underlined by the fact that more than half of the city's hotel rooms now hold The Green Key, The Nordic Swan Mark or The European Flower, all of which indicate that the hotels in question have demonstrated environmental awareness by saving on water, electricity, chemicals etc.

The COP15 effect
In 2009 Copenhagen hosted the UN's climate summit COP15, which was later certified as the world's first sustainable political international summit. The rise in the number of environmentally certified hotels is partly due to COP15.

"The fact that the Danish Foreign Ministry decided to host COP15 at a far greater level of sustainability than the UN required has worked as a catalyst for the city's tourism industry - the selection is far greener than prior to the summit," says Lars Bernhard Jørgensen, managing director of Wonderful Copenhagen.

According to Jens Zimmer Christensen, chairman of HORESTA (the Danish trade association for the catering, hotel and hospitality industry), the development is also due to a broader green awareness among guests. He says:

"There is a demand for environmentally certified hotels from major companies in particular. They need to show their employees or clients that they act in an environmentally responsible way, when selecting hotels. We are also noticing an increasing interest among tourists."

Copenhagen - The Capital of Sustainable Meetings
Following the COP 15 certification Wonderful Copenhagen has set a target: Copenhagen, which in 2009 ranked number one of 30 cities in Siemens European Green City Index, is to be ‘The Capital of Sustainable Meetings', geared specifically to hosting meetings within the sustainability field.